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FAMILIAR    ILLUSTRATIONS 


OF 


CHRISTIAN    TRUTH. 


No.  L 


THE 


SABBATH. 


The  Sabbath  was  made  for  man. 


7^ 


By  henry  a.  WORCESTER. 


BOSTON: 
PUBLISHED    BY    OTIS    CLAPP. 


MDCCCXL. 


BO  STON: 

FREEMAN   AND    BOLLES,   PRINTERS, 

WASHINOrON   STREET. 


TO 

ALL    PERSONS    DESIROUS    OF    A    MORE 
ENLIGHTENED    AND    ORDERLY    OBSERVANCE    OF    THE 

CHRISTIAN    SABBATH, 

THIS    LITTLE    VOLUME 
IS    RESPECTFULLY    INSCRIBED 

BY    THEIR    FRIEND, 

THE  AUTHOR. 


Page. 
CHAPTER  I. 

Introduction, 7 

CHAPTER  11. 
Morning  Walk, 14 

CHAPTER  HI. 
Breakfast  and  Morning  Devotions, 24 

CHAPTER  IV. 
The  union  of  Moral  and  Intellectual  Culture,     36 

CHAPTER  V. 
On  going  to  Church, 4^ 

CHAPTER  VI. 
Self-examination, 56 

CHAPTER  VII. 
Conversation  at  Dinner  on  the  Sabbath, 66 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
Visiting  the  Sick  —  a  Scene, 79 

CHAPTER  IX. 
The  Bible  Class, 90 

CHAPTER  X. 
A  Walk  and  Conversation  in  the  Garden,    ....  101 

CHAPTER  XI. 
A  Social  Conversation  on  Sacred  Music, 113 


THE    SABBATH 


CHAPTER  I. 


INTRODUCTION. 


"  Truth  presented  in  natural  imagery,  is  only  dressed  in  the  gar- 
ments which  God  has  given  it." 

Sampson  Reed. 


How  unpleasant  the  contrast  which  many  a 
young  student  has  felt  on  leaving  the  sphere  of 
home^  and  entering  upon  the  secluded  and  very 
unnatural  mode  of  education  now  pursued  in  the 
colleges  of  our  country  !  No  longer  encouraged 
by  the  expressions  of  parental  love  or  filial  affec- 
tion, he  suddenly  comes  into  the  almost  exclusive 
association  of  youth  of  his  own  age  and  sex  ; 
who,  being  drawn  together  for  the  same  common 
object,  and,  generally,  actuated  by  no  higher 
motive  than  personal  distinction,  too  often  regard 
each  other  only  with  the  jealousy  of  ambitious 
rivals.  How  many  an  ingenuous  youth  has  long 
1 


8  INTRODUCTION. 

pined,  even  among  his  associates,  as  if  in  solitude, 
for  the  more  free,  congenial  atmosphere  of  home  ! 
How  many  the  thoughts  and  reflections,  which 
pride  or  self-respect  constrains  him  to  conceal,  till 
the  tedious  days  of  the  first  term  pass  away,  which 
debar  him  from  again  participating  in  the  spon- 
taneous joys  of  his  native  fireside,  —  where  he  can 
give  the  most  unrestrained  expression  to  every 
sentiment ! 

By  degrees,  however,  these  early  sensibilities 
become  blunted.  As  the  student  contracts  habits 
of  study  and  reading,  his  pleasures  become  less 
social,  but  more  intellectual  and  solitary, — till  he 
is  at  length  tolerably  reconciled  to  his  secluded, 
unnatural  situation.  The  common  ground  of  science 
and  literature  affords  an  ample  plane  on  which  to 
meet  all  his  fellow-students,  so  that  he  is  never  at 
loss  for  a  topic  to  beguile  a  leisure  hour,  either  in 
his  walks,  or  at  his  private  room.  And  often  those, 
whose  views  and  feelings  are  found,  on  further  ac- 
quaintance, to  be  most  congenial,  gradually  draw 
together  and  become  more  intimate,  so  as  to  revive 
and  cherish,  to  some  degree,  those  social  affections 
and  friendly  sentiments  which  are  the  spontaneous 
growth  of  each  one's  Aome,  and  on  the  exercise  of 
which  his  happiness  so  much  depends. 

But  as  a  general  thing,  there  is  little  real  friend- 
ship among  young  students.  And  notwithstanding 
the  interest  felt  in  their  studies,  and  the  charms  of 
a  student's  life  when  viewed  at  a  distance,  they 


INTRODUCTION.  » 

are  all  looking  forward  to  the  termination  of  their 
course  with  anticipations  of  pleasure  ;  and  few, 
very  few,  are  not  glad  to  bid  farewell  to  college 
life  with  all  its  attractions,  and  to  separate  from 
their  fellows  in  order  to  return  to  their  own  native 
homes,  or  to  enter  upon  the  active  scenes  of  life. 
And  as  they  settle  in  their  respective  professions 
and  enter  into  those  relations  of  domestic  life, 
which  spring  more  directly  out  of  the  affections, 
it  is  surprising  how  rapidly  the  memory  of  their 
fellow-students  fades  away  ;  and  how  seldom  they 
even  think  of  those  with  whom  they  spent  four 
long  years  of  their  youth  on  terms  of  such  fre- 
quent and  daily  intercourse. 

Sometimes,  however,  it  is  happily  otherwise. 
When  congenial  minds  happen  to  meet,  their  long 
term  of  studies  and  daily  habits  of  intercourse, 
tend  to  develop  each  other's  character,  and  bring 
out  all  their  various  feelings  and  sentiments.  And, 
in  several  instances,  I  have  known  those  acquaint- 
ances, which  were  at  first  only  accidental,  gradu- 
ally become  more  and  more  intimate,  till  they 
ripened  into  a  mature  and  lasting  friendship — that 
continued  through  life,  a  source  of  mutual  happi- 
ness. Of  this  character  I  am  happy  to  say,  was 
the  issue  of  an  acquaintance  with  my  early  friend 
and  fellow-student,  Henry  Clifford. 

Mr.  Clifford,  the  father  of  Henry,  lived  in  a 
neighboring  town  only  about  twelve  miles  distant 
from  the  college  at  which  he  had  placed  his  son  to 


10  INTRODUCTION. 

receive  an  education.  Living  at  so  convenient  a 
distance,  Henry,  at  his  father's  request,  got  ex- 
cused by  his  tutor  several  times  during  a  college 
term  on  Saturday  afternoons,  in  order  to  spend  the 
Sabbath  at  home  with  his  friends  —  returning  early 
Monday  mornings  to  join  in  the  studies  of  his  class. 
Nearly  three  years'  acquaintance  had  already  ren- 
dered us  very  intimate,  when,  as  is  natural  to  every 
parent,  Mr.  Clifford  expressed  a  wish  to  become 
personally  acquainted  with  one  whom  his  son  often 
spoke  of  as  his  most  intimate  companion,  in  order 
to  know  whether  to  encourage  him  in  the  acquaint- 
ance. Accordingly  I  received  an  invitation  to 
join  my  friend  at  some  convenient  time,  in  one  of 
his  afternoon  walks  into  the  country,  and  spend  the 
Sabbath  with  him  in  his  father's  family. 

"  Great  events  often  turn  on  little  causes."  And 
surely  I  look  back  on  the  day  spent  in  that  well- 
regulated  and  happy  family,  as  having  had  no 
small  degree  of  influence  on  my  subsequent  life. 

It  was  a  delightful  afternoon,  in  the  month  of 
June,  that  I  accepted  my  young  friend's  invitation. 
We  were  joined  in  our  walk  by  a  mutual  friend 
and  classmate,  Charles  Livingston,  whose  father 
was  an  intimate  friend  of  Mr.  Clifl?brd,  and  whose 
mother  and  sister  were  then  spending  a  few  days 
in  Mr.  Clifford's  family.  A  pleasant  walk,  beguiled 
by  the  observations  we  made  on  such  minerals  and 
plants  as  came  in  our  way,  and  that  served  to 
illustrate  the  studies  to  which  we  were  then  at- 


INTRODUCTION.  11 

tending,  brought  us  to  the  end  of  our  little  journey. 
Presented  by  Henry  as  his  friend,  I  was  received 
as  such,  and  at  once  put  at  my  ease  as  an  inmate 
in  the  family.  How  different  our  impressions  when 
first  introduced  to  strangers !  We  sometimes  have 
an  instinctive  feeling  that  we  are  in  a  congenial 
sphere,  and  as  at  home  ;  although  there  may  be 
scarcely  any  external  expression  of  it.  At  other 
times  the  most  labored  and  officious  attentions 
to  all  our  wants,  and  every  external  expression  of 
kindness  cannot  banish  the  feeling  that  we  are  as 
among  strangers.  My  reception  was  cordial,  and 
I  felt  it  to  be  sincere  ;  though  there  was  but  little 
effort  at  external  expression. 

"  We  are  happy  to  see  you,  Mr.  Williams,"  said 
Mr.  Clifford,  "  and  hope  you  will  not  require  us 
to  treat  the  companion  of  our  son  as  a  stranger 
while   we  have  the  pleasure  of  his  visit." 

The  ease  of  manner,  and  the  quiet  and  elevated 
sphere  that  seemed  to  pervade  the  whole  family, 
caused  me  to  feel  that  I  was  in  the  home  of  him, 
in  whose  society  I  had  long  felt  at  home  as  a 
fellow-student. 

Mr.  Clifford  was  to  appearance  an  intelligent, 
well-bred  gentleman,  somewhat  past  the  meridian 
of  life,  of  a  quick,  penetrating  eye,  and  frank, 
open  countenance  ;  and,  as  I  subsequently  learned, 
he  had  been  actively  engaged  in  an  extensive 
mercantile  business  for  many  years.  Though  not 
rich,  he  was  in  good  circumstances,  and  his  well- 
conducted   business    gave  a   regular   and   liberal 


12  INTKODUCTION. 

income  for  the  support  of  his  family.  He  had 
been  living  with  an  amiable  wife  some  more  than 
twenty  years,  who  had  rendered  him  the  father  of 
seven  children,  of  whom  Henry  was  the  eldest 
living  ;  —  their  first  born  having  died  when  but  two 
years  old.  Feroline,  then  a  lovely  blooming  girl, 
about  seventeen,  was  next  to  Henry.  Of  the  four 
remaining  children  there  were  two  sons  and  two 
daughters.  George,  the  next  in  age  to  Feroline, 
was  a  bright  boy,  at  this  time  nearly  prepared  to 
enter  college.  Then  came  Ellen  and  Jane,  two 
sprightly  girls  attending  school.  And  Charles,  the 
baby,  —  as  the  youngest  is  called  till  a  dozen  years 
old — was  a  \iii\e  prodigy  for  one  of  three  and  a 
half  years. 

To  the  education  of  their  children  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Clifford  were  wholly  devoted,  and  spared  them- 
selves no  exertion  or  expense  within  their  means. 
And  what  gave  effect  to  all  their  endeavors  they 
seemed  to  be  entirely  united  in  them.  It  is  not 
my  design  to  enter  into  a  detailed  account  of  all 
I  subsequently  learned  of  this  engaging  and  happy 
family.  I  simply  wish  to  record  from  recollection 
the  sentiments  and  views  of  Mr.  Clifford  on  several 
subjects  on  which  we  happened  to  converse  ;  and 
I  know  of  no  better  way  of  doing  it,  than,  having 
now  introduced  the  reader  to  the  family,  to  allow 
him  to  take  with  me  a  familiar  review  of  the  Sab- 
bath I  spent  there.  This  will  relieve  me  from 
giving  a  mere  dry  abstract  statement  of  his  views  ; 


INTRODUCTION.  13 

and  allow  him  to  appear  before  the  reader,  and 
often  speak  for  himself  in  the  original  circum- 
stances in  which  the  conversations  occurred. 

After  having  spent  a  delightful  evening  in  the 
family  of  my  new  acquaintance,  as  I  retired  to 
bed,  Henry  remarked  that,  in  accordance  with 
their  custom,  the  family  would  take  an  early  walk 
together  in  the  morning  before  breakfast,  and 
invited  Livingston  and  myself,  if  not  too  much 
fatigued  by  our  afternoon's  walk,  to  rise  in  season 
lojoin  them,  —  adding,  at  the  same  time,  that  Mrs. 
Livingston  and  Julia  were  to  be  of  the  party. 


^OVtuir  OF 
BEG.  NOV  1880 


CHAPTER  II. 


MORNING   WALK. 


"Wisdom  finds  tongues  in  trees;  books  in  the  running  streams; 
sermons  in  stones  ;  and  good  in  every  thing." 

Shakspeare. 

Accordingly  at  the  hour  appointed  we  were 
ready  to  join  the  family  in  the  proposed  excursion, 
and  the  sun  did  not  appear  till  we  had  been  all 
refreshed  by  having  attained  the  top  of  a  neigh- 
boring hill,  at  least  a  mile  and  a  half  from  Mr. 
Clifford's  house. 

To  a  well-regulated  mind  nothing  has  a  more 
inexpressible  charm  than  an  early  walk  in  a 
pleasant  summer's  morning.  We  have  then  just 
awoke  from  a  state  of  insensibility  when  all 
around  us  was  dark,  still,  and  lifeless.  The  mind 
and  the  body  are  alike  refreshed  and  invigorated 
by  repose.  All  creation  too  seems  to  awake  with 
renewed  life  ;  the  trees  and  herbage  are  refreshed 
and  glistening  with  the  dews  of  morning  ;  trees, 
shrubbery,  and  flowers  exhale  stronger  fragrance 
and  richer  odors  ;  the  mingling  notes  of  birds 
enliven  the  grove,  and  all  animals  seem  to  awake 
with  renewed  life  from  the  season  of  rest. 


MORNINaWALK.  15 

But  on  the  morning  of  the  Sabbath,  at  this 
season  especially,  it  would  seem  that  every  devout 
mind  must  be  brought  into  harmony  with  the  pros- 
pects and  the  blending  notes  of  praise  around  it. 
There  is  often  something  so  quiet  and  so  still  —  so 
peaceful  and  so  holy  in  the  return  of  the  Sabbath 
at  this  season,  that  it  seems  as  if  all  nature  were 
in  effort  to  allay  the  turbulence  of  the  human  mind, 
and  lull  to  sleep  all  the  feelings  and  all  the  restless 
passions  excited  during  the  week  ;  and  on  this  day, 
set  apart  for  the  duties  to  devotion,  inspire  man 
with  the  spirit  of  love  and  praise  to  his  Maker. 

The  route  chosen  for  our  walk  this  morning  was 
nearly  three  miles  in  circuit,  (a  distance  which 
may  surprise  one  not  accustomed  to  the  ease  with 
which  such  a  walk  may  be  performed  after  a  little 
practice.)  We  went  on  one  of  the  principal  roads 
which  pass  through  the  village,  for  nearly  one  mile, 
and  then  turned  into  a  lane,  or  by-way,  which  led 
through  fields  and  woodlands  for  about  the  same 
distance,  to  another  road  on  which  we  were  to 
return. 

This,  Henry  remarked,  was  one  of  his  father's 
favorite  walks,  as  there  was  on  the  way  a  promi- 
nent hill  which  afforded  a  fine  prospect  of  the 
country,  and  which  he  was  very  fond  of  ascend- 
ing ;  and  he  often  stopped  there  some  minutes  to 
enjoy  the  surrounding  prospect,  frequently  too  in 
season  to  see  the  sun  in  its  first  appearance. 

In  these  morning  walks  on  other  days  it  was  the 


16  MORNING      WALK. 

custom  of  Mr.  Clifford  to  enter  into  a  free  and 
familiar  conversation  with  his  children  on  the 
various  topics  that  came  up  on  the  way. 

It  had  ever  been  a  prominent  object  in  the  ed- 
ucation of  his  children,  to  cultivate  in  them  the 
habit  of  attentive  ohservation,  and  whenever  en- 
gaged in  reading,  or  in  studying  a  book  on  natural 
history,  or  natural  philosophy,  to  require  them  to 
observe  with  attention  whatever  came  in  their  way 
that  served  to  exemplify  the  principles  which  it 
contained. 

In  this  manner  his  walks  with  his  family  for 
recreation  and  exercise,  were  rendered  very  in- 
structive and  useful.  The  natural  sciences,  he 
was  satisfied,  were  too  much  neglected  in  the  com- 
mon course  of  education.  He  had  therefore  pro- 
cured for  his  children  suitable  books  adapted  to 
their  age  on  the  various  subjects  of  natural  history, 
and  such  branches  of  natural  ijliiloso'pliy  as  were 
suited  to  their  capacities.  He  required  them  to 
read  and  study  under  his  own  inspection,  and  he 
himself  appeared  to  take  great  delight  in  the  ex- 
ercise ;  so  that  before  the  age  at  which  these 
studies  are  usually  begun,  each  one  of  his  children 
had  acquired  so  familiar  an  acquaintance  with  the 
elements  of  botany,  mineralogy,  and  the  natural 
history  of  animals,  birds,  and  insects,  that  they 
were  familiar  with  the  names  of  the  various  min- 
erals, trees,  and  plants  that  came  within  the  range 
of  their  observation,  and  could  easily  classify  and 


BIORNING      WALK.  17 

describe  them.  And  few  birds  or  insects  were 
strangers  to  them  at  a  dozen  years  old.  Indeed 
he  endeavored  to  throw  off  all  other  cares  when 
on  a  walk  with  his  family,  and  make  the  outward 
prospect  around  them  a  theatre  of  observation,  and 
endeavored  to  call  up  and  illustrate  the  principles 
they  were  learning  at  home,  or  from  books  at 
school,  by  pointing  out  such  examples  as  came  in 
his  way,  or  directing  them  to  seek  for  others. 
Nothing  however  seemed  to  be  premeditated  in 
these  walks.  The  conversation  seemed  to  arise 
spontaneously  out  of  the  objects  before  them.  It 
varied  and  changed  with  the  prospect.  Now  a 
mineral  was  picked  up  which  was  to  be  classified, 
and  described  ;  he  saw  they  all  understood  it,  and 
then  that  mineral  was  dropped.  Another  had  ob- 
served a  flower,  or  caught  an  insect  that  was  not 
known  or  familiar,  this  was  then  to  be  discussed 
and  thrown  by,  or  retained  and  carried  home  as  a 
specimen  for  their  little  cabinet  of  illustration. 
Such  was  the  course  pursued  in  his  every  day 
walks  with  his  family.  Their  powers  of  observa- 
tion, therefore,  were  quick  and  active  ;  and  scarcely 
an  object  of  natural  history  fell  in  their  way  which 
was  not  at  once  recognised  as  an  old  acquaintance 
and  assigned  its  place,  or  else  marked  as  a  stranger 
for  future  study. 

But  the  conversation  on  Sabbath  morning,  when 
the  weather  permitted  him  to  walk  with  his  family, 
took  a  different  turn  ;  he  did  not  even  then  repress 


18  MORNING      WALK. 

all  observation  of  natural  objects,  but  rather  took 
this  occasion  to  lead  his  children  to  reflect  on  what 
they  had  already  learned  and  observed,  than  to 
add  to  their  knowledge.  And  the  familiar  acquaint- 
ance which  they  were  acquiring  of  natural  science, 
afforded  him  a  most  happy  introduction  for  giving 
them  moral  and  religious  instruction.  He  then 
endeavored  to  point  out  to  them  the  uses  of  know- 
ledge, and  to  illustrate  in  what  manner  each  sub- 
ject which  they  were  studying  might  be  of  use  to 
them,  and  to  show  the  peculiar  influence  it  was 
calculated  to  have  on  the  mind  and  the  heart  in 
forming  the  character. 

Those  composing  the  party  this  morning  did  not 
all  walk  so  near  each  other  as  to  admit  of  general 
conversation  on  any  one  topic.  While  on  the  way, 
in  several  detached  groups,  the  conversation  was 
quite  discursive.  Mrs.  Clifford  having  remained 
at  home  to  attend  to  domestic  affairs,  Mr.  Clifford 
walked  with  Mrs.  Livingston.  The  subject  on 
which  their  conversation  then  happened  to  turn 
was  one  very  naturally  suggested  by  the  occasion  — 
nature  and  revelation. 

"  Your  custom  of  taking  such  a  walk  on  Sab- 
bath morning  is  a  singular  one,"  said  Mrs.  Liv- 
ingston, "  but  as  I  have  the  strongest  assurance  in 
your  life  and  character  that  it  cannot  be  imputed 
to  an  irreverence  for  the  Sabbath,  or  to  any  dis- 
respect for  the  doctrines  of  the  Bible,  I  felt  no 
scruples  in  accompanying  you  this   morning,  al- 


MORNING      WALK.  19 

though  contrary  to  my  usual  habits  of  spending  the 
Sabbath." 

"  I  am  well  aware,"  replied  Mr.  Clifford,  "  that 
my  habits  in  this  respect  for  many  years  have  not 
been  in  agreement  with  the  prevailing  sentiments 
and  customs  of  religious  people  in  this  country." 

"  As  you  redeem  the  time,  however,  by  early 
rising,  or  rather  by  devoting  only  those  hours  of 
the  morning  to  your  walk  which  are  so  generally 
wasted  in  sleep  on  this  day,  I  surely  cannot  cen- 
sure your  custom  as  one  unbecoming  the  sanctity 
of  the  Sabbath,"  said  Mrs.  Livingston. 

"  You  have  anticipated  what  I  look  upon  as  a 
very  external  excuse  for  doing  so,"  said  Mr.  Clif- 
ford. "  It  however  satisfies  most  people  that  there 
is  no  great  harm  in  it,  or  at  least,  that  it  is  no 
worse  than  wasting  the  same  time  in  bed.  But  I 
have  other  and  positive  reasons  for  the  custom. 
The  fact  that  my  neighbor  neglects  to  improve  or 
abuse  a  privilege  is  no  excuse  for  my  doing  the 
same." 

"  Surely  not,"  said  Mrs.  Livingston.  "  But  I 
should  be  glad  to  hear  your  positive  reasons  for 
this  singular  custom,"  she  added,  just  as  we  all 
ascended  the  summit  of  the  hill,  before  alluded  to, 
and  drew  up  near  each  other  in  order  to  join  in 
expressing  our  admiration  of  the  delightful  pros- 
pect of  the  adjacent  country'. 

It  was  indeed  a  delightful  landscape,  combining 
a  great  variety  of  rural  scenery.     The  sun  had 


20  MORNINGWALK. 

just  arisen,  mild  and  serene.  On  every  side  of 
the  hill  there  was  an  extensive  view  of  the  country- 
round.  To  the  east  was  a  rich  meadow  with  many- 
cultivated  farms,  through  which  a  gentle  river 
wound  its  circuitous  course.  Here  and  there  were 
clumps  of  forest  trees  left  standing  which  were 
enlivened  by  the  mingling  notes  of  birds  ;  and  at 
a  distance  on  every  side  were  to  be  seen,  farm- 
houses, orchards,  flocks  of  sheep,  cattle,  and  all 
that  gives  life  to  a  variegated  landscape. 

"  It  has  long  been  my  endeavor,"  continued  Mr. 
Clifford,  "  to  familiarize  my  own  mind  and  the 
minds  of  my  children  with  the  great  but  very  sim- 
ple truth  that  the  Author  of  nature  and  the  Author 
of  revelation  is  the  same  great  and  good  Being. 
And  that  the  attributes  of  God,  our  Heavenly 
Father,  are  to  be  seen  in  his  Works  as  well  as  re- 
vealed in  his  Word.  And  in  illustrating  all  their 
studies  concerning  nature,  I  have  constantly  en- 
deavored to  impress  upon  their  minds  that  the 
Works  of  God  are  as  truly  a  medium  of  revealing 
Himself  to  man  as  his  Word.  It  has  long  appeared 
to  me  that  this  great  principle  is  too  often  over- 
looked, and  that  the  Sabbath  is  often  made  not  only 
tedious  and  irksome,  but  even  gloomy,  from  our 
mistaken  views  of  its  nature  and  the  true  mode  in 
which  it  should  be  observed.  It  is  true,  I  do  not 
neglect  giving  my  children  instruction  in  the  Bible 
at  home.  But  I  find  that  instead  of  diminishing 
their  interest  in  the  study  of  the  Bible,  I  can  greatly 


MORNING      WALK.  21 

increase  their  interest  by  connecting  with  it  in- 
struction drawn  from  another  source,  all  tending 
to  the  same  great  end." 

"  You  see  yonder  bright  sun  rising  again  to 
enlighten  the  world.  You  see  how  bright  and 
beautiful  the  extensive  prospect  around  us  now 
appears.  How  joyful  and  animated  all  nature 
seems  on  this  holy  morning.  And  surely  does  it 
not  seem  proper  for  man,  who  alone  is  gifted  with 
reason,  to  rise  from  his  bed  and  throw  open  his 
mind  to  the  influence  of  such  a  prospect ;  to  see 
the  Divine  Wisdom  and  Love  that  are  so  embodied 
forth  in  the  works  of  nature,  and  to  contemplate 
their  Divine  Author  as  present  in  all  hiswoiks! 
If  to  any  one  habit  more  than  another,  I  should 
ascribe  the  uniform  happiness  of  my  life,  it  would 
be  that  of  constantly  referring  all  things  in  the 
works  of  nature,  immediately  to  their  Divine 
Author,  and  looking  to  Him,  not  only  as  the  great 
Architect,  but  as  the  continually  animating  Soul  of 
the  universe  —  thus  of  contemplating  Him  as  every 
where  present  in  all  his  works." 

"  I  know  not  whether  there  is  more  of  poetic 
merit  or  true  religious  sentiment  in  those  beautiful 
lines  of  Wordsworth, 


"  But  he  had  felt  the  power 

Of  Nature,  and  already  was  prepared, 
By  his  intense  conceptions,  to  receive 
Deeply  the  lesson  deep  of  love  which  he, 


22  M  0  R  N  I  N  G     \V  A  L  K  . 

Whom  Nature,  by  whatever  means,  has  taught 
To  feel  intensely,  cannot  but  receive. 

Such  was  the  Boy  —  but  for  the  growing  Youth 

What  soul  was  his,  when,  from  the  naked  top 

Of  some  bold  headland,  he  beheld  the  sun 

Rise  up,  and  bathe  the  world  in  light !  He  looked  — 

Ocean  and  earth,  the  solid  frame  of  earth 

And  ocean's  liquid  mass,  beneath  him  lay 

In  gladness  and  deep  joy.     The  clouds  were  touched, 

And  in  their  silent  faces  did  he  read 

Unutterable  love.     Sound  needed  none, 

Nor  any  voice  of  joy  :   his  spirit  drank 

The  spectacle  :  sensation,  soul,  and  form 

All  melted  into  him  ;  they  swallowed  up 

His  animal  being  ;  in  them  did  he  live  ; 

And  by  them  did  he  live  ;  they  were  his  life. 

In  such  access  of  mind,  in  such  high  hour 

Of  visitation  from  the  living  God, 

Thought  was  not;  in  enjoyment  it  expired. 

No  thanks  he  breathed,  he  proffered  no  request. 

Rapt  into  still  communion  that  transcends 

The  imperfect  offices  of  prayer  and  praise, 

His  mind  was  a  thanksgiving  to  the  power 

That  made  him ;  it  was  blessedness  and  love  !  " 

The  tone  and  manner  in  which  Mr.  Clifford 
repeated  these  lines,  had  an  influence  almost  in- 
spiring on  us  all.  I  never  before  had  so  perfect 
an  idea  of  what  is  meant  by  realizing  poetry.  His 
mind  seemed  to  be  so  attuned  as  to  fill  the  words 
with  corresponding  sentiment  and  life  almost  to 
overflowing. 

"  But,"  said  he  "  we  must  now  continue  our 
walk,  and  break  away  from  a  subject  which  only 


MORNING     WALK.  23 

enlarges  as  we  attempt  to  grasp  it,  and  which  has 
no  limits  to  our  finite  minds." 

What  he  had  said,  however,  or  rather  the  manner 
of  it,  seemed  to  have  an  inspiring  influence.  I 
could  not  divert  my  own  mind  from  the  subject. 
And  the  few  hints  he  had  dropped,  gave  the  same 
turn  to  the  thoughts  of  the  whole  company,  and 
afforded  abundant  matter  for  conversation  during 
the  rest  of  our  walk,  till  we  returned,  all  being 
well  refreshed,  to  Mr.  Clifford's  house. 


CHAPTER  III. 

BREAKFAST    AND   MORNING    DEVOTIONS. 

"  Man  shall  not  live  by  bread  alone,  but  by  every  word  that  pro- 
ceedeth  out  of  the  mouth  of  God." 

After  a  suitable  time  for  washing  and  complet- 
ing the  toilet,  the  bell  rang  as  a  summons  for  all 
the  family  to  meet  in  the  breakfast  room  where 
the  table  was  already  laid. 

It  was  the  usual  custom  of  Mr.  Clifford  to  have 
a  chapter  in  the  Bible  read  every  morning  before 
breakfast  in  a  very  deliberate  and  devout  manner. 
Every  member  of  the  family  was  furnished  with 
a  Bible  of  his  own,  and  a  portion  of  the  chapter 
selected  was  read  by  each  one  in  turn.  And, 
when  they  had  all  knelt  and  joined  in  repeating 
the  LorcVs  Prayer^  they  seated  themselves  at  the 
table  for  breakfast. 

After  having  done  the  honors  of  the  table,  Mr. 
Clifford,  addressing  Mrs.  Livingston,  remarked, 
"  I  have  long  regarded  the  habit  of  going  through 
the  external  forms  of  family  devotion  of  com- 
paratively little  use,  unless  the  heart  is  engaged  in 
the  exercise  ;  or  even  of  reading  the  Sacred  Scrip- 


MORNING      DEVOTIONS.  25 

tures,  unless  the  understanding  is  active  to  com- 
prehend the  doctrines  taught  in  them.  An  unen- 
lightened sentiment  of  devotion,  or  a  blind  rev- 
erence for  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  does  no  more 
affect  the  real  character  of  man,  than  the  outward 
forms  of  pagan  worship,  or  a  reverence  for  the 
Koran,  or  the  Veda.  We  are  really  Christians 
only  so  far  as  we  comprehend  the  doctrines  and 
precepts  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  and  make  the 
life  and  character  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  the 
example  of  our  own." 

Influenced  by  these  sentiments,  Mr.  Clifford  not 
only  taught  his  children  to  reverence  the  Bible  as 
the  Word  of  God,  but  he  also  labored  to  render 
them  well  instructed  in  its  doctrines.  To  give 
them  a  correct  and  clear  understanding  of  the 
literal  sense  of  the  Word  was  his  first  object.  A 
large  and  convenient  map  of  Palestine  was  always 
hanging  in  the  room,  and  a  dictionary  of  the  Bible 
was  at  hand  for  reference.  As  a  means  to  this 
end,  he  had  also  taken  care  to  have  them  well  in- 
structed in  ancient  geography  and  natural  history, 
as  well  as  in  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  dif- 
ferent nations  referred  to  in  the  Bible.  And  it 
was  his  daily  custom  to  spend  at  least  one  half 
hour  at  the  table  every  morning,  in  such  conversa- 
tion with  his  family  as  arose  out  of  the  portion  of 
Scripture  which  had  been  previously  read  as  a  de- 
votional exercise.  He  aimed  not  only  to  give 
them  a  rational  understanding  of  what  they  had 


26  MORNING     DEVOTIONS. 

been  reading,  but  he  also  took  occasion  to  apply 
it,  or  to  draw  from  it  such  practical  remarks  as 
were  suited  to  their  respective  states.  To  the 
gospels  of  the  New  Testament  he  had  devoted 
himself  with  particular  attention,  and  they  had 
gone  through  them  many  times.  But  as  he  had 
continued  this  practice  of  reading  the  Scriptures 
for  several  years,  the  members  of  his  family  were 
now  familiarly  acquainted  with  all  parts  of  the 
sacred  volume. 

The  portion  of  Scripture  read  this  morning 
happened  to  be  the  sixth  chapter  of  Matthew. 
Perhaps  with  some  reference  to  his  guests,  instead 
of  dwelling  on  the  literal  meaning  of  the  chapter 
read,  Mr.  Clifford  selected  for  remark  only  that 
part  which  related  to  the  subject  of  prayer. 
And  having  e:kplained  in  a  familiar  way  the  di- 
rections of  the  Lord  to  his  disciples  immediately 
preceding  the  words  which  he  gave  to  them  as  the 
form  of  prayer,  he  requested  Henry  to  explain 
what  idea  we  should  attach  to  the  words  "  Our  Fa- 
ther who  art  in  heaven.'^'' 

"  The  nearest  natural  relation  is  here  used  to 
signify  the  relation  of  the  Lord  to  men,"  replied 
Henry. 

"  Very  well,"  replied  the  father,  "  but  I  wish 
you  to  tell  what  idea  you  form  of  the  Being  ad- 
dressed by  the  name  of  Father^ 

"  As  children  derive  their  existence  from  natural 
parents,  and  are  long  dependent  on  them,  so  by 


MORNING     DEVOTIONS.  27 

this  image  we  are  taught  and  are  always  to  be  re- 
minded^  that  we  derive  our  existence  from  God,  as 
our  Great  Father  in  the  heavens,  on  whom  we  are 
always  dependent  for  all  things." 

"  This  is  indeed  true  also,"  said  Mr.  Clifford, 
"  but  the  subject  of  my  inquiiy  related  to  the  idea 
which  we  are  to  form  of  God,  and  under  which 
we  are  to  approach  and  worship  him." 

Here  Mrs.  Livingston  inquired  "  whether  we 
ought  to  think  of  God  at  all  as  existing  in  any 
form.''^ 

In  reply  to  her  Mr.  Clifford  said,  *'I  cannot  con- 
ceive the  least  idea  of  a  being,  except  it  be  merely 
an  abstract  quality,  unless  I  think  of  that  being  as 
existing  in  some  form.  And  if  I  attempt  to  think 
of  God  and  worship  him  without  at  the  same  time 
conceiving  of  him  as  existing  in  some  form,  all 
idea  of  a  personal  God  perishes,  and  the  mind 
sinks  imperceptibly  into  naturalism,  and  at  length 
ends  in  atheism.  There  seems  to  be  but  two  gen- 
eral ideas  under  which  God  is  worshiped  at  all ; 
all  others  being  but  modifications  or  derivatives  of 
these,  viz.,  naturalism,  or  God  as  existing  in,  and 
identified  with  nature,  but  without  a  separate  per- 
sonal existence  ;  and  what  is  called  anthropomor- 
phism, or  God  as  existing  in  the  human  form,  and  as 
possessed  of  attributes  from  which  human  attributes 
are  derived.  The  latter  is  certainly  the  philoso- 
phy of  the  Bible  with  respect  to  the  nature  of  the 
Divine   existence.      The   Sacred  Writings   begin 


28  MORNING      DEVOTIONS. 

and  end  with  this  idea.  Not  only  are  the  human 
form  and  attributes  ascribed  to  God  every  where 
in  the  Old  Testament,  but  the  Scriptures  open 
with  the  distinct  announcement  that  '  God  created 
man  in  his  own  image  and  likeness.'  And  the 
great  central  doctrine  of  Christianity  is,  that  God 
is  in  Christ  reconciling  the  world  to  himself — 
that  the  divine  dwelt  in  the  human,  bodily.  And, 
in  order  to  raise  and  give  us  the  most  exalted 
idea  which  we  can  possibly  form  of  the  mode  of 
the  divine  existence  —  and  of  the  idea  under  which 
God  is  to  be  worshiped,  Jesus  Christ  when  on  the 
earth,  selected  three  of  his  disciples,  and  took 
them  apart,  and  when  he  had  led  them  up  on  an 
exceedingly  high  mountain,  he  was  transfigured 
hefore  them,  he  unveiled  himself,  and  showed  to 
them  his  divine  appearance  as  he  is  to  be  seen  in 
'  his  kingdom,  his  face  shining  as  the  sun,  and  his 
raiment  was  white  as  the  light.'  This  I  regard  as 
the  most  exalted  idea  under  which  God  can  be  ap- 
proached and  worshiped.  And  this,  as  it  appears 
to  me,  is  the  idea  which  we  should  endeavor  to 
form,  and  under  which  we  should  approach  him 
when  we  repeat  the  words,  '  Our  Father  who  art 
in  the  heavens.'  " 

"  You  have  interested  me  so  much  in  presenting 
this  view  of  the  subject,  that  I  must  beg  of  you, 
if  it  will  not  be  interrupting  the  order  of  your  usual 
course,  to  give  me  a  brief  exposition  of  your  views 
on  the  whole  of  this  most  interesting  form  of 
prayer." 


MORNING      DEVOTIONS.  29 

"My  usual  custom,"  said  Mr.  Clifford,  "is  to 
call  the  attention  of  my  whole  family  more  direct- 
ly to  the  subject  by  asking  some  one  of  them  a 
question  which  requires  a  definite  answer.  But  at 
your  request  I  will  deviate  from  my  usual  course, 
and  proceed  to  give  a  very  brief  explanation  of 
each  petition  in  its  order." 

"  Halloiced  he  thy  name.''''  A  name  is  a  word 
which  is  applied  to  a  person  or  to  a  thing  to  signify 
its  quality.  And  a  person  or  a  thing  is  rightly 
named  when  the  name  does  truly  express  the  char- 
acter and  quality  of  the  person  or  the  thing.  Thus 
all  the  different  names  applied  to  the  Lord  in  the 
Sacred  Scriptures,  only  express  his  attributes  and 
the  different  relations  in  which  he  is  there  re- 
vealed. But  in  a  more  enlarged  sense,  by  name  is 
signified  not  merely  the  literal  term  applied  to  a 
person,  but  whatever  reveals  and  makes  known  his 
peculiar  character  and  attributes.  Thus,  in  this 
enlarged  sense,  as  applied  to  the  Lord,  it  signifies 
all  things  by  which  his  true  character  and  attri- 
butes are  made  known  to  man  —  his  Works  as  well 
as  his  Wordy  all  things  as  well  as  words  by  which 
his  attributes  are  revealed.  And  in  the  highest 
sense  to  the  divine  Humanity  called  the  Son,  which 
he  assumed  and  glorified,  and  which  so  perfectly 
reveals  the  Father's  character  and  likeness.  And 
his  name  is  to  be  hallowed,  treated  as  holy, 
because  so  intimately  associated  with  the  idea  of 
him  whom  it  reveals." 


30  MORNING      DEVOTIONS. 

"  Thy  kingdom  come^  The  Lord  is  called  a 
king  in  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  because  he  is  the 
author  and  source  of  all  Truth,  which  is  the  Law 
of  his  kingdom.  And  his  kingdom  in  the  heavens 
and  on  the  earth,  is  the  practical  acknowledgment 
of  his  truth  as  a  law  that  is  to  be  obeyed  by  angels 
and  by  men." 

"  Thy  will  he  done,  as  in  heaven  so  also  upon 
the  earth.''''  The  will  of  the  Lord  is  Love  —  univer- 
sal Love  to  all.  From  Love  only,  he  creates,  pre- 
serves, and  continually  operates  and  governs.  And 
his  will  is  done  when  we  act  from  the  same  spirit 
of  Love  from  which  the  Lord  acts.  In  the  heavens 
—  that  is,  in  the  minds  and  lives  of  the  angels,  the 
kingdom  of  the  Lord,  —  his  truth,  reigns,  and  his 
Love  prompts  to,  and  operates  in,  every  action. 
And  his  kingdom  comes,  and  his  will  is  done  upon 
the  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven,  when  men  live  as  the 
angels  live  —  when  in  humility  they  open  their  un- 
derstandings to  the  divine  Truth,  their  hearts  to  the 
influences  of  the  divine  Love,  and  when  all  they 
perceive  to  be  true,  and  all  they  feel  to  be  good, 
is  freely  brought  forth  and  manifested  in  their 
lives." 

"  Give  us  this  day  our  daily  hread^  Bread 
literally  means  one  kind  of  food  —  in  an  enlarged 
sense,  all  nourishment  for  the  body.  This  is  its 
natural  signification.  But  it  is  used  to  signify  by 
correspondence,  spiritual  food  —  all  nourishment 
for  the  soul  —  that  which  nourishes  spiritual  life  ^- 


MORNING      DEVOTIONS.  31 

namely,  all  those  perceptions  of  Divine  Truth  and 
good  affections  of  Love,  called  the  '  bread  of  God 
which  Cometh  down  from  heaven  and  giveth  life  to 
the  world.'  Asking  is  an  acknowledgment  of  our 
dependence.  And  as  we  are  always  required  to  ask 
for  our  daily  bread  when  we  pray,  we  are  taught 
to  live  continually  mindful  of  our  dependence  on 
the  Lord,  both  for  natural  and  spiritual  sustenance 
and  life." 

"  And  forgive  us  our  debts  as  ive  forgive  our 
debtors.'''' 

"  This  petition,"  said  l\Irs.  Livingston,  "  I 
often  hesitate  to  repeat  as  it  reads,  and  some- 
times I  am  disposed  to  insert  a  word  which  wodd 
render  it  more  expressive  of  my  own  feelings  and 
desires.  I  fear  that  if  it  should  be  answered  to  the 
letter  we  all  should  be  hardly  dealt  with.  For  who 
exercises  the  same  forgiveness  tov/ards  his  enemies 
for  which  he  prays  from  his  Maker?  I  am,  there- 
fore, often  disposed  to  pray  thus,  'forgive  us  our 
debts,'  not  as  we  do,  but  as  we  should  '  forgive 
our  debtors.'  " 

"  The  words  are  right  as  they  stand,"  replied 
Mr  Clifford.  "  It  is  only  so  far  as  man  does  ex- 
ercise forgiveness,  that  he  can  feel  that  he  is  for- 
given. The  Lord  is  Love  and  mercy  itself.  He 
imputes  sin  to  no  one,  but  is  ever  ready  to  exercise 
free  forgiveness  towards  all.  But  so  long  as  man 
is  selfish,  unforgiving  and  revengeful,  the  charac- 
ter of  the  Lord  appears  the  same  to  him.     It  ap- 


32  MORNING      DEVOTIONS. 

pears  to  him  as  it  is  seen  reflected  in  his  own 
character.  When  he  is  himself  unforgiving  and 
revengeful  towards  his  enemies,  the  Lord  appears 
so  to  him.  When  he  comes  into  the  exercise  of 
forgiveness,  the  character  of  the  Lord  to  his  ap- 
pearance undergoes  a  corresponding  change,  and 
he  feels  that  he  is  forgiven.  In  a  word,  it  is  only 
an  appearance  which  originates  in  his  own  deprav- 
ity, that  the  Lord  is  ever  angry  with  him,  or  is 
ever  unforgiving.  The  real  truth  is,  that  his  char- 
acter must  always  appear  to  be  corresponding  to 
the  state  and  character  of  man.  And  that  his  true 
character  can  be  seen  only  so  far  as  man  partakes 
of  his  likeness,  and  comes  into  the  exercise  of  for- 
giving love.  Continually,  therefore,  in  prayer  for 
forgiveness,  should  man  be  reminded  of  the  con- 
ditions  of  his  forgiveness.  That  it  is  on  no 
other  grounds  than  that  of  simply  exercising  the 
same  forgiveness  towards  his  enemies  for  which 
he  prays  to  the  Lord.  And  that,  if  he,  from  the 
heart,  forgives  not  men  their  trespasses,  neither 
will  his  heavenly  Father  forgive  (or  appear  to 
him  to  forgive)  him  his  trespasses.  Notwithstand- 
ing all  the  learned  controversies  about  the  Atone- 
ment, and  about  the  conditions  of  forgiveness,  and 
justification  with  God,  the  whole  truth  is  summa- 
rily, but  fully  expressed  in  the  words,  ^^  forgive  and 
ye  shall  he  forgiven^  "  For  with  what  measure 
ye  mete,  it  shall  be  measured  to  you  again." 

"  Lead  us  not  into  temptation,  hut  deliver  us 
from  eviW'' 


MORNING      DEVOTIONS.  33 

"  Here  again,"  said  Mrs.  Livinj^jston,  "  there  is 
a  seeming  inconsistency  in  tlie  language  used 
in  this  petition,  as  well  as  in  several  other  pas- 
sages in  the  Bible.  In  one  place  it  is  said,  '  God 
tempted  Abraham,^  but  the  explicit  declaration  of 
the  Apostle  James  is,  '  Let  no  man  say  when  he  is 
tempted^  I  am  tempted  of  God ;  for  God  cannot  he 
tempted,  neither  tempteth  he  any  man.  But  every 
man  is  tempted,  when  he  is  drawn  away  of  his  own 
lusts,  and  enticed.''  If  God  does  not  tempt  man, 
why  is  temptation  ever  ascribed  to  Him  ?  Or  why 
are  we  required  to  pray  that  he  would  '  lead  us 
not  into  temptation''  if  the  only  cause  of  the 
temptation  is  (as  the  Apostle  James  declares)  in 
ourselves  —  our  own  evil  propensities  and  lusts  ?  " 

Mr.  Clifford  replied,  "  One  is  the  real  truth,  the 
other  is  the  apparent  truth  —  or  the  truth  as  it  ap- 
pears to  man  in  a  merely  natural,  unregenerate 
state  of  mind.  It  is  really  true  that  the  Lord 
tempts  no  man,  but  that  man  is  tempted  only  when 
drawn  away  of  his  own  lusts  and  enticed.  The 
cause  of  the  temptation  is  always  in  himself.  But 
it  does  not  always  appear  so  to  him.  It  appears 
to  him  that  external  associates  and  circumstances 
were  the  cause  of  his  temptations  to  sin.  He 
reasons  in  this  manner,  '  Had  I  not  been  placed 
in  these  peculiar  circumstances,  or  influenced  by 
bad  associates,  I  should  not  have  been  guilty  of  the 
sins  I  have  committed.'  Thus  he  looks  out  of 
himself  for  the  cause  of  his  sins.     He  attributes 


34  MORNING     DEVOTIONS. 

the  formation  of  his  character,  not  to  any  latent 
evils,  or  bad  propensities  in  himself,  but  merely  to 
the  external  circumstances  and  associates  which 
were  the  cause  of  awakening  and  bringing  them 
out  into  open  manifestation.  And  when  he  prays, 
'  Lead  us  not  into  temptation,'*  these  words  are 
understood  by  him  as  meaning.  Withhold  me  from 
such  associates,  and  from  going  into  such  circum- 
stances as  will  cause  me  to  commit  sin.  But  as 
he  advances  in  spiritual  life,  he  gradually  learns 
by  experience  the  real  truth,  that  the  only  cause 
of  his  temptations  to  sin,  are  within  himself —  are 
his  own  evil  propensities  and  lusts,  which  external 
circumstances  and  associates  only  excite  and  man- 
ifest to  him,  —  that  apart  from  these  evils  within 
himself,  external  circumstances  and  associates  can 
have  no  power  over  him.  And  consequently  he 
then  desires  to  be  delivered  from  these  evils  within 
himself,  which  he  now  sees  to  be  the  cause  of  his 
temptations,  but  which  his  external  circumstances 
and  associates  were  the  means  of  first  exciting  and 
manifesting  to  him.  Thus  the  language  of  the 
petition  is  perfectly  adapted  to  every  state,  though 
differently  understood,  according  to  the  difference 
of  state  and  degree  of  advancement  in  the  regen- 
erate life." 

"  For  thine  is  the  kingdom,  the  power,  and  the 
glory  for  ever."  These  words  are  a  form  of  ac- 
knowledgment, that  the  laws  of  order,  or  divine 
truth,  which  is  signified  by  kingdoju,  and  all  power 


MORNING      DEVOTIONS.  35 

to  obey  it,  and  all  praise  and  honor,  are  to  be  as- 
cribed to  the  Lord  alone. 

"  Amen,''''  is  but  a  solemn  asseveration  of  the 
truth  of  what  has  been  uttered." 

"  Thus  you  see,  that  when  rightly  understood, 
this  simple  form  of  prayer,  comprehends  every 
request,  which,  in  a  good  state  of  affections,  we 
can  make  to  the  Lord.  And,  instead  of  disobey- 
ing the  direct  command  of  the  Lord,  not  to  imitate 
the  Pharisees  in  making  long  prayers  to  be  seen  of 
men  —  and  using  a  vain  repetition  of  words,  it  is 
our  duty  to  conform  to  his  instructions,  and  rather 
than  multiply  words,  endeavor  to  bring  our  affec- 
tions into  that  state  of  true  resignation  to  the  di- 
vine will,  in  which  this  form  of  prayer  will  be 
seen  to  express  every  desire  which  we  ought  to 
cherish,  —  and  in  which  it  will  be  seen  to  be  as 
the  perfect  body,  of  which  the  real  sentiments  of 
veneration  and  love  to  the  Lord,  united  to  a  true 
resignation  to  his  will,  are  the  sow/." 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE    UNION    OF    MORAL   AND    INTELLECTUAL   CULTURE. 

[ntellectual  culture,  and  moral  discipline,  must  be  united.  The 
renovating  influences  of  religion  must  impregnate  the  streams  of 
knowledge  as  they  descend  from  the  hill  of  science,  or  else  they  will 
carry  only  moral  disease  as  they  flow  through  the  land. 

Mr.  Clifford  always  felt  a  deep  and  a  lively  in- 
terest in  the  great  subject  of  education.  But  while 
he  witnessed  with  pleasure  the  advances  made  by 
our  schools  in  improving  the  understanding  and 
cultivating  the  taste,  he  often  deplored  the  neglect 
of  moral  and  religious  culture.  And  he  lost  no 
occasion  to  inspire  the  young  with  correct  motives 
of  action,  and  to  teach  and  impress  upon  them 
the  true  ends  of  acquiring  knowledge. 

When  we  had  all  retired  from  the  breakfast 
room  into  the  parlor,  he  entered  upon  a  famil- 
iar conversation  with  Livingston  and  myself  re- 
specting the  state  of  our  college.  Although  not 
liberally  educated  himself,  he  had  during  life  de- 
voted much  time  to  systematic  study  and  mis- 
cellaneous reading,  and  was  now  well  informed 
in  most  of  the  sciences  taught  in  our  literary 
institutions. 


MORAL  AND  INTELLECTUAL  CULTURE.  37 

Having  drawn  from  us  a  pretty  full  statement 
of  the  condition  of  the  institution  to  which  we 
belonged  —  the  course  of  studies  which  we  were 
pursuing  —  and  the  many  particulars  as  to  the 
details  of  the  mode  of  instruction  pursued, — he 
inquired,  "  And  what  now  appears  to  be  the  end, 
or  the  great  moving  principle  held  up  before  you 
as  the  motive  to  exertion  ?  There  are,  doubtless, 
a  great  variety  of  motives,  and  perhaps  as  many 
shades  and  degrees  of  purity  in  them  as  there  are 
individuals ;  but  what  I  mean  is,  what  appears  to 
be  the  esprit  de  corps  of  your  institution  —  that 
which  is  inspired  and  appealed  to,  by  the  example 
and  the  influence  of  your  instructors  ?  " 

"If  I  understand  your  question  aright,"  said 
Livingston,  ''I  should  say  that  it  was  honor  —  or 
ambition  for  literary  distinction.  The  chief  topic 
of  conversation  among  our  students,  is  their  rela- 
tive standing  as  men  of  talents  and  scholarship ;  — 
and  this  appears  to  be  the  only  common  measure 
applied  in  the  estimation  of  character." 

"  I  was  afraid  that  it  was  too  much  the  case," 
said  Mr.  Clifford.  "  But  are  not  serious  efforts 
made  on  the  part  of  your  instructors  to  correct 
this  false  principle,  and  to  inspire  you  with  higher 
motives  of  action  ?  " 

"  We  do,  indeed,"  said  Livingston,  *'  sometimes 
in  a  grave  lecture  hear  the  principle  of  ambition 
proscribed  as  of  evil  tendency,  and  on  the  Sabbath 
we  are  often  seriously  warned  and  exhorted  not  to 


oS  THE      UNION      OF      MORAL 

yield  ourselves  to  its  influence.  But  then  even 
the  mode  in  which  this  is  done,  I  have  thought 
rather  tends  to  inspire  us  with  emulation  to  imitate 
the  speaker's  style  and  manner,  than  to  cause  us 
to  reflect  on  our  own  states,  and  make  a  personal 
application  of  his  remarks  to  ourselves.  I  am  often 
reminded  by  the  manner  of  what  Cicero  says 
even  while  listening  to  the  most  solemn  exhorta- 
tions from  the  pulpit  on  the  Sabbath  :  '  Even  those 
philosophers  who  have  written  on  the  subject  of 
despising  fame,  have  been  careful  to  inscribe  their 
own  names  in  the  books  they  have  written.'  " 

"  And  then  what  avail  precept  and  principle 
which  are  habitually  and  daily  contradicted  by 
practice  ?  We  are  gravely  told  in  a  lecture  that 
ambition  is  a  wrong  motive,  and  seriously  exhorted 
in  a  sermon  not  to  yield  to  its  influence  ;  —  but  what 
influence  can  this  have  on  our  conduct,  when,  at 
the  very  next  exercise,  perhaps  the  very  same  per- 
son in  the  capacity  of  an  instructor,  marks  our 
relative  standing  among  our  associates  when  we 
recite,  and  thus  appeals  to  the  very  same  principle 
as  a  motive  of  action,  which  he  before  had  con- 
demned as  bad  and  of  evil  tendency." 

"  I  am  very  glad,"  said  Mr.  Cliflx)rd,  "  to  find 
that  you  are  not  blind  to  the  inconsistency  of  such 
a  course." 

"  It  is  one  thing,  my  child,"  said  Mrs.  Living- 
ston, "to  be  sharp-sighted,  and  able  to  detect 
errors  and   inconsistencies  in  others,  and  a  very 


AND   INTELLECTUAL   CULTURE.    39 

different  one  to  avoid  the  same  ourselves.  And  I 
fear  that,  although  so  ready  to  see  and  acknow- 
ledge the  inconsistency  of  this  course,  you  do  not 
escape  being  as  seriously  affected  by  it  yourself 
as  your  fellows.  I  have  labored  much  to  try  to 
inspire  you  with  higher  and  different  motives  — 
not,  indeed,  wishing  to  abate  your  ardor  and  zeal 
in  your  studies,  but  to  cause  you  to  pursue  them 
with  an  entirely  different  end  in  view." 

"  It  is  all  but  impossible,"  said  Charles,  "  for 
any  one  not  to  be  affected  by  the  strong  influences 
which  there  surround  him,  and  I  am  also  led  to 
think  that  it  is  right  for  our  instructers  to  stimulate 
and  encourage  our  progress  in  science  by  appeal- 
ing to  our  selfish  ambition  and  love  of  fame.  The 
motive,  to  be  sure,  is  selfish,  but  still  greater  attain- 
ments are  made  in  science  and  literature  than 
would  be  without  appealing  to  this  motive  of  ac- 
tion." 

"  This  is  a  subject  on  which  I  have  bestowed 
much  reflection,"  said  Mr.  Clifford,  "  and  the 
result  has  been  a  conviction  that  inteUectual  cul- 
ture is  not  a  blessing,  either  to  the  individual  him- 
self, or  to  the  community,  only  so  far  as  it  is  under 
the  control  of  moral  principle,  and  religious  mo- 
tives of  action." 

"  All  moral  evil  may  be  traced  to  the  abuse  of 
that  knowledge  which  is  above  the  state  of  our 
moral  affections.  Of  all  states  none  is  more  hope- 
less than  that  of  the  mere  ambitious  sciolist — the 
3 


40  THE      UNION      OF      MORAL 

man  whose  understanding  is  raised  far  above  the 
level  of  his  affections  —  who  seeks  for  knowledge 
merely  for  the  sake  of  distinction  and  display,  and 
who  is  for  ever  engaged  in  argument  from  the 
mere  love  of  dispute  and  controversy.  Such  a 
one  sees  no  beauty  in  truth  for  its  own  sake.  In 
all  his  studies  into  the  works  of  nature,  which  em- 
body so  much  of  the  divine  wisdom  and  goodness, 
instead  of  being  reminded  of  their  divine  Author — 
of  the  sun  that  shines  above  —  alas,  he  sees  only 
the  comparative  length  of  his  own  shadow  —  he 
hears  nought  but  the  sound  of  his  own  footsteps. 
If  his  motives  are  selfish  and  corrupt,  talents  and 
education  are  but  the  sword  of  mischief  in  his 
hands,  which  enables  him  to  perpetrate  acts  of 
villany  and  vice  on  a  larger  scale.  And  by  them 
he  is  enabled  to  breathe  moral  poison  more  effectu- 
ally into  the  veins  of  society  around  him." 

"But  do  you  not  think,  Mr.  Clifford,"  inquired 
Mrs.  Livingston,  "  that  intellectual  education  is, 
on  the  whole,  a  blessing  to  society  ?  " 

"When  rightly  understood,"  answered  Mr.  Clif- 
ford, "  it  is  undoubtedly  the  greatest  and  best  bles- 
sing to  man.  But  I  am  now  speaking  of  intellectu- 
al education  to  the  neglect  of  corresponding  moral 
and  religious  culture.  And  I  am  much  afraid  that 
society  is  not  to  be  rendered  happier  by  the  pres- 
ent mode  pursued  in  the  education  of  our  youth. 
My  only  hope  is,  that  1  am  deceived  in  the  amount 
of  moral  and  religious  principle  instilled  into  their 
minds. 


AND  INTELLECTUAL   CULTURE.    41 

"  Knowledge  and  talents  are  power,  and  enable 
man  to  accomplish  his  end,  be  it  good  or  evil.  If 
supremely  selfish  in  the  state  of  his  affections, 
education  does  not  change  the  current  of  his  life  ; 
it  only  opens  a  deeper  and  a  broader  channel  in 
which  it  flows  forth.  If  bent  on  wealth,  the  same 
selfish  passion  which  prompted  the  ignorant  man 
to  acts  of  petty  theft  or  robbery,  when  united  to 
talents  and  education,  will  find  a  more  successful 
development  in  counting  the  dishonest  gains  of 
trade,  or  in  evading  the  toils  of  the  law.  And  by 
whatever  means  it  is  acquired,  great  wealth  will 
give  such  a  man  an  artificial  standing  in  society, 
it  will  create  dependants  around  him,  and,  in  a 
thousand  ways,  give  him  a  bad  influence  on  the 
community. 

*'  Our  daily  intercourse  with  men  in  business 
brings  us  acquainted  with  those  who  seem  to  be 
dishonest  to  the  extent  of  their  wits,  —  who  lose 
no  opportunity  to  take  every  advantage  of  their 
neighbours,  —  and,  in  view  of  their  disposition,  we 
see  that  we  have  the  greatest  reason  to  thank  God 
for  limiting  their  power  to  do  evil  by  the  narrow 
compass  he  has  given  to  their  understanding,  —  and 
that  they  do  so  quietly  lay  their  heads  on  the  lap 
of  ignorance,  and  that  it  is  made  so  easy  to  them. 

"  Again,  if  ambition,  or  the  love  of  dominion, 
be  the  ruling  passion,  while  limited  and  kept  in 
check  by  ignorance  or  a  feeble  understanding,  it 
is   comparatively  harmless;  but  when    united   to 


42  THE      UNION      OF      MORAL 

talents  and  high  intellectual  attainments,  we  can 
prescribe  no  limits  to  its  evils. 

"  As  we  turn  over  the  pages  of  history  and  re- 
view the  past  condition  of  mankind,  as  we  sigh 
over  the  tales  of  war  and  distress,  and  the  calam- 
ities of  the  great  mass  of  society  in  all  nations  of 
past  ages,  to  what  does  the  historian  point  us  as 
the  cause  of  the  evil  ?  It  is  to  selfish  ambition 
united  to  talents  and  education  —  to  intellectual 
culture,  to  the  neglect  of  corresponding  moral  and 
religious  improvement.  What,  for  example,  gave 
to  Alexander  power  to  overrun  the  earth  with  all 
the  evils  and  desolations  of  war  ?  What  but  the 
superior  mind  of  his  ambitious  father,  Philip,  that 
had  prepared  and  disciplined  his  army,  and  the 
education  which  he  received  from  the  great  Aris- 
totle, that  gave  him  talents  to  command  it,  and 
enlarged  the  sphere  of  his  ambition  ?  It  was  his 
superior  talents  and  education,  that  enabled  Julius 
Csesar  to  sieze  the  reins  of  power  in  Rome,  and 
trample  on  the  liberties  of  his  country.  The 
same  cause  has  but  so  recently  put  the  sword  of 
the  French  nation  into  the  hands  of  Robespierre, 
and  has  now  transferred  it  to  Napoleon  Bonaparte, 
who  is  filling  Europe  with  all  the  horrors  of  war. 
These  are,  indeed,  some  of  the  most  striking  ex- 
amples of  this  false  principle.  Yet  it  may  also  be 
seen  illustrated  in  its  minor  forms,  and  in  different 
degrees,  by  the  present  distress  and  miseries,  in 
all  the  civil  governments  of  the  world.     What  is 


AND      INTELLECTUAL      CULTURE.         43 

it  that  now  keeps  up  such  systems  of  oppression 
and  disorder  in  the  government  of  all  nations  — 
compelling  the  many  to  toil  for  the  few  —  that 
makes  the  ruled  the  slaves  of  the  rulers,  while 
these  are  but  the  slaves  of  their  own  passions  ? 
It  is  this  same  false  principle,  giving  to  men  the 
superior  advantages  of  intellectual  improvement, 
to  the  almost  total  neglect  of  the  heart  —  the 
moral  and  active  powers  which  are  to  direct  and 
control  the  understanding. 

"  And  I  greatly  fear  that  we  shall  not  long  be 
required  to  look  for  examples  out  of  our  own  coun- 
try. If  men  of  strong  ambition,  great  talents,  and 
intellectual  attainments  exist  in  a  free  republic  like 
ours,  when  their  talents  are  under  no  moral  re- 
straint ;  but  selfish  ambition  alone  directs  and  con- 
trols them,  then  will  there  be  scenes  of  continual 
turmoil  and  strife.  The  aspirants  after  the  honor 
and  rewards  of  office  will  continually  breathe  the 
venom  of  party  spirit  and  civil  discord  among  the 
people  —  foment  divisions  among  the  several  states 
—  corrupt  the  press,  and  unite  in  clans  and  parties 
to  barter  and  sell  offices  as  merchandize.  And 
this  beautiful  fabric  of  our  government  —  this  new 
temple  of  civil  liberty,  in  theory  so  beautiful !  may- 
yet  become  but  a  den  of  such  political  thieves, 
and  then  what  will  become  of  our  liberties  ? 

"  You  must  excuse,  Mrs.  Livingston,  the  enthu- 
siastic ardor  with  which  I  speak  upon  this  subject," 
«aid  Mr.  CliffiDrd,  "  I  am  only  desirous  to  make  an 


44  THE     UNION     OF     MORAL 

effectual  impression  on  the  minds  of  these  young 
students,  and  to  awaken  in  them  serious  attention 
to  this  principle." 

"  I  am  very  much  gratified  to  hear  the  princi- 
ples which  I  have  constantly  endeavored  to  instil 
into  my  children,  so  forcibly  and  ably  illustrated," 
said  Mrs.  Livingston. 

Here  Charles  inquired,  "Do  not  the  evils  al- 
luded to  result  from  the  advantages  of  education 
and  intellectual  improvement  being  restricted  and 
confined  to  the  few,  while  the  great  mass  of  the 
people  are  left  comparatively  ignorant,  rather  than 
from  a  defect  in  their  motives  of  action  ?  If  all 
were  equally  well  educated,  each  one  would  see 
what  was  for  his  interest,  so  that  one  would  be  a 
check  upon  another,  and  thus  prevent  aggravated 
abuses,  though  all  were  governed  only  by  motives 
of  selfish  ambition." 

*'  The  selfish  and  depraved  passions  of  men," 
said  Mr.  Clifford,  "  when  excited,  are  not  restrain- 
ed and  governed  by  their  reason.  If  devoid  of 
moral  principle  and  religious  restraint,  a  com- 
munity of  equals  in  talents  and  intellectual  attain- 
ments cannot  subsist  together  in  society.  When 
Alexander  said,  that  *  the  world  has  not  two  suns, 
neither  can  it  bear  two  conquerors,'  he  spoke, 
like  a  disciple  of  Aristotle,  the  true  language  of 
ambition.  If  equally  ambitious,  and  equally  talent- 
ed, each  one  would  aspire  to  the  same  stations  of 
power  and  of  influence,  and  they  would  be  either 


AND   INTELLECTUAL   CULTURE.    45 

driven  apart  by  a  mutual  reaction,  and  live  solitary 
like  beasts  of  prey,  —  or  else  provocation  would 
call  forth  resentment,  insult  would  be  followed  by 
revenge,  and  mutual  extermination  would  ensue. 
When  ambition  alone  is  the  propelling  motive  of 
action,  a  man  can  have  no  rest  till  he  has  risen 
above  all  whom  he  regards  as  less  talented  than 
himself.  It  is  not  till  he  feels  his  own  inferiority 
of  talents,  that  he  is  content  with  a  subordinate 
station,  and  thinks  it  sufficient  glory  to  serve  anoth- 
er. As  soon  as  he  thinks  himself  equal  to  his 
chief,  he  will  serve  him  no  longer.  Then  aliena- 
tion and  war  commence  between  them. 

"  It  is  not,  therefore,  to  an  equality  of  talent 
and  education,  that  we  can  look  for  order  and  har- 
mony in  society.  But  so  long  as  men  are  equally 
governed  by  selfish  ambition  alone,  it  is  by  the 
diversity  of  talents  —  in  the  greater  and  less  de- 
grees of  intellectual  power,  that  the  disturbing 
forces  of  society  can  be  balanced  and  counter- 
acted by  opposing  principles.  The  man  who  is 
possessed  of  talents  superior  to  all  others  in  the 
same  community,  if  only  equal  in  ambition,  will 
easily  gain  the  ascendency ;  he  will  gradually  be- 
come the  centre  of  motion  and  of  power,  while 
those  of  inferior  grades  of  talent,  will,  in  their 
several  stations,  be  content  to  acknowledge  him  as 
their  superior,  while  they  are  permitted  to  play 
subordinate  parts  in  the  same  system,  and  revolve 
around  him  as  planets  or  satellites,  according  to 
their  several  degrees  of  ability. 


46  THE      UNION      OF      MORAL 

"  I  might  continue  the  subject,"  said  Mr.  Clif- 
ford, "  much  farther,  and  show  the  pernicious  in- 
fluence of  talents  and  education  on  society,  when 
under  the  control  of  selfish  motives  through  the 
medium  of  literature,  and  in  all  departments  of 
authorship.  Men  view  the  subjects  on  which  they 
write  or  speak,  not  as  they  are,  but  as  they  appear 
to  them.  And  it  is  their  own  moral  state  which 
gives  the  coloring  and  the  hue  to  every  subject 
they  contemplate. 

"  When  an  author,  be  he  an  historian,  a  poet,  a 
philosopher,  or  even  a  divine,  writes  under  the  in- 
fluence of  a  merely  selfish  ambition,  he  writes  not 
for  truth,  but  for  fame,  or  for  the  pecuniary  re- 
ward of  his  labors.  He  will,  therefore,  accom- 
modate himself  to  the  state  and  to  the  prejudices 
of  the  sect  or  party  for  whom  he  writes,  adopt 
such  opinions  and  sentiments  as  will  not  be  repug- 
nant to  those  to  whom  he  looks  for  approbation 
and  support.  Hence  we  see  the  world  is  becom- 
ing filled  with  books  which  this  love  of  distinction 
and  prostitution  of  talents  are  bringing  into  exist- 
ence ; —  books,  which  are  only  the  ofl*spring  of 
party  prejudices,  of  a  narrow  sectarian  spirit,  or 
of  a  low  and  squeamish  moral  sentiment.  Books, 
in  no  wise  adapted  to  elevate  or  to  instruct,  but 
merely  suited  to  catch  the  gale  of  popular  favor, 
and  secure  to  the  author  a  party,  or  a  sectarian  sup- 
port ;  —  while,  at  the  same  time,  they  are  not  only 
corrupting  the  taste,  but  made  the  vehicles  of  er- 


AND  INTELLECTUAL   CULTURE.    47 

roneous  sentiments,  and  convey  moral  poison  into 
society. 

"  While  we  see  that  the  human  understanding  is 
capable  of  such  an  indefinite  degree  of  expansion 
and  improvement,  —  that  knowledge  is  poz(?<?r,  and 
that  intellectual  education  is  but  the  means  of  its 
development,  how  can  we  feel  indifferent  to  the 
state  of  the  moral  and  active  powers  —  to  that 
which  is  to  direct  and  control  the  intellect,  and 
cause  it  to  become  the  great  instrument  either 
of  so  much  good  or  of  so  much  ill. 

"  It  will,  perhaps,  assist  you  to  apprehend  more 
clearly  my  views  of  what  the  aim  of  education 
should  be,  if  we  refer  to  the  divine  character  as 
the  standard  for  imitation.  The  attributes  of  God 
are  equal  in  degree  —  his  love  is  equal  to  his 
wisdom  —  his  knowledge  or  his  power  does  not 
exceed  his  benevolence  —  in  Him  they  blend  and 
unite  in  undivided  perfection.  Man  was  created 
to  be  a  finite  recipient  of  the  divine  attributes ; 
but  he  becomes  an  image  of  his  Creator,  only  so 
far  as  he  receives  of  his  attributes  in  eiiual  degree 
—  only  so  far  as  his  benevolence  is  equal  \.o\i\s 
understanding  and  his  knowledge,  —  only  so  far 
as  his  moral  affections  are  as  benevolent  as  his 
understanding  is  enlightened  by  knowledge.  This 
is  the  union  of  goodness  and  truth  —  that  state  of 
order  which  God  is  in  effort  to  effect  in  all  men  ; 
and  what  God  is  in  effort  to  join  together,  man 
should  not  put  asunder." 


CHAPTER  V. 


ON   GOING   TO    CHURCH. 


"  O  sweeter  than  the  marriage-feast, 
'Tis  sweeter  far  to  me, 
To  walk  togi  ther  to  the  kirk 
With  a  goodly  company  !  — 
To  walk  together  to  the  kirk, 
And  altogether  pray, 
While  each  to  his  great  Father  bends. 
Old  men,  and  babes,  and  loving  friends, 
And  youths  and  mai>.lens  gay  I  " 

Coleridge. 

At  the  first  summons  of  the  bell,  Mr.  Clifford 
and  his  family  were  in  readiness  to  set  out  for 
church.  The  distance  which  they  had  to  walk 
was  such,  as,  when  punctual  in  leaving  at  that 
hour,  allowed  them  sufficient  time  to  be  all  quietly 
seated  ten  or  fifteen  minutes  before  the  public  ser- 
vices commenced.  And  at  all  seasons  of  the  year, 
unless  detained  by  the  extreme  inclemency  of  the 
weather,  or  by  sickness,  he  was  punctual  at  church 
with  his  whole  family. 

In  a  subsequent  conversation  with  him  on  the 
subject  of  public  worship,  Mr.  Clifford  freely  com- 
municated his  sentiments  as  follows. 

"Religion,  as  it  aims  to  exalt  and  purify  the 


ON      GOING      TO      CHURCH.  49 

affections  of  the  soul,  as  well  as  to  enlighten  the 
understanding,  and  thus  to  direct  and  control  the 
springs  of  action,  is  not  only  the  best  bond  of 
civil  society,  but  the  only  true  safeguard  of  all 
social  and  domestic  happiness.  And  public  wor- 
ship on  the  Sabbath,  is  one  of  the  most  direct  and 
efficient  means  of  keeping  its  principles  alive  and 
operative  in  the  minds  of  all  classes  of  society. 

"In  the  temple  consecrated  to  religious  worship 
on  the  Sabbath,  the  rich  man  and  the  poor  man, 
the  learned  and  the  ignorant,  meet  on  a  common 
plane,  and  recognise  each  other  as  brethren  — 
children  of  the  same  great  Father  of  all.  There, 
all  worldly  distinctions  of  rank  and  fortune  should 
be  annihilated  and  forgotten.  Every  unhallowed 
desire  should  be  chastened  and  subdued.  Whilst 
each  one  endeavors  to  realize  that  he  is  now  in 
the  more  immediate  presence  of  Him,  in  view  of 
whose  majesty  and  glory  it  becomes  us  to  indulge 
no  affections  but  those  of  deep  reverence  and 
love. 

"  In  this  hallowed  retreat  from  a  world  of  self- 
ishness and  depravity,  no  jarring  elements,  or 
sectarian  diflerences  of  sentiment,  should  be  allow- 
ed to  disturb  for  a  moment  the  harmony  of  our 
worship,  or  strike  a  single  note  of  discord.  The 
mind  of  him  whose  office  it  is  to  minister  at  the 
altar  —  to  lead  our  devotions  and  to  unfold  the 
doctrines  of  eternal  life,  should  be  pure,  and  ele- 
vated above  all  efforts  at  paltry  display.    He  should 


50 


ON      GOING      TO      CHURCH. 


be  too  earnestly  engaged  in  discharging  the  office 
of  his  mission,  to  discuss  with  sectarian  zeal  mere- 
ly abstract  and  speculative  difTerences  of  opinion 
before  a  miscellaneous  congregation,  who  are  ill- 
prepared  to  follow  a  metaphysical  argument,  but 
all  of  whom  require  to  be  fed  with  the  plain,  sub- 
stantial bread  of  life.  Having  first  overcome  all 
opposition  to  the  truth  in  himself,  and  being  thus 
prepared  to  lead  the  way,  he  should  so  present  the 
truth,  and  adapt  it  to  the  state  of  his  flock,  that 
'his  sheep  will  hear  his  voice  and  follow  him'  as 
their  spiritual  shepherd.  And  through  him,  as  a 
humble  medium  of  the  Lord,  they  should  be  ena- 
bled '  to  go  in  and  out  and  find  pasture.' 

"  I  have  always  found  it  impossible  to  make  a 
sudden  transition  from  one  state  of  affection  to 
that  which  is  very  different,  without  doing  violence 
to  my  feelings.  Indeed,  it  is  evidently  in  accord- 
ance with  the  nature  of  the  mind,  that  these 
changes  should  be  gradual.  When,  therefore,  we 
come  at  a  late  hour  into  the  house  of  public  wor- 
ship, we  not  only  interrupt  the  devotions  of  others, 
but  our  own  minds  also  are  not  prepared  to  join 
with  proper  feelings,  in  the  exercises  of  divine 
worship.  We  require  some  time  to  come  into  a 
frame  of  mind  suited  to  religious  devotion,  I 
have,  therefore,  for  a  long  time,  regarded  it  as  one 
of  the  duties  connected  with  religious  worship,  not 
only  to  be  punctually  seated  before  the  exercises  of 
worship  commence,  but   to  be  seated   with   my 


ON      GOING      TO      CHURCH.  51 

whole  family,  so  much  before  this  time,  as  to  en- 
joy a  short  season  of  silent  meditation,  and  of  still 
communion  with  my  own  mind.  I  find  this  a 
profitable  season  to  withdraw  my  thoughts  more 
effectually  from  all  outward  and  worldly  cares  — 
to  realize  for  what  object  I  have  come  into  the 
house  of  worship  —  and  whom  I  am  about  to  ad- 
dress in  prayer. 

"  The  influence  of  the  truth  on  my  mind,  I 
have  learned  by  experience  does  not  depend  so 
much  on  the  clearness  and  force  with  which  it  is 
delivered,  or,  even  on  the  affections  of  the  minis- 
ter, as  upon  the  state  of  preparation  in  my  own 
mind.  My  own  affections  must  be  open  to  instruc- 
tion —  my  attention  given  —  or  nothing  has  an 
abiding  place  in  the  mind. 

"  It  is,  therefore,  as  much  our  duty  to  take  heed 
how  we  hear,  as  ivhat  we  hear  —  that  we  should 
come  into  the  house  of  worship  with  such  a  sense 
of  the  sacredness  of  the  duties  in  which  we  are 
about  to  unite,  as  shall  restrain  the  wandering  look, 
and  the  prying  gaze,  and  give  that  external  com- 
posure to  the  countenance,  and  that  meek  expres- 
sion to  the  whole  demeanor,  which  ever  become 
the  house  of  worship. 

"  From  those  who  are  governed  by  no  higher 
motives  than  fashion,  or  merely  external  considera- 
tions, we  are  not  to  expect  a  reform  to  commence  ; 
—  but  surely  it  is  lamentable  to  consider  what 
vague  and  indefinite  ideas  prevail  on  the  subject  of 


52  ON      GOING      TO      CHURCH. 

religious  worship,  among  those  who  profess  a  deep 
interest  in  religious  truth.  Instead  of  having,  what 
appears  to  me,  a  true  standard  before  them  on  the 
nature  and  uses  of  true  worship,  —  instead  of  en- 
deavoring to  come  together  in  a  state  to  join  de- 
voutly in  spiritual  worship  at  its  regular  and  proper 
seasons,  and  regarding  the  exercises  of  worship 
merely  as  the  means  of  their  advancement,  most 
professing  christians  at  the  present  day,  seem  to 
regard  them  as  the  end.  They  seem  to  multiply 
their  number  so  as  to  distract  and  fatigue  the  mind, 
—  and  to  have  fallen  into  the  habit  of  attending 
them  merely  with  their  outward  presence.  They 
appear  to  go  to  church  as  to  idle  pastimes  —  like 
listless  spectators  —  without  even  thinking  of  the 
end  in  view,  and  without  feeling  that  they  them- 
selves have  a  part  in  the  exercises  of  devotion. 

"  How  different,"  said  Mr.  Clifford,  "  is  the  gen- 
eral custom  from  what  it  should  be  on  this  subject. 
When  we  assemble  in  the  house  of  worship,  in- 
stead of  feeling  that  we  are  spectators,  we  should 
feel  that  we  ourselves  have  a  part  to  sustain  in 
every  exercise.  That  the  form  used  is  to  be  filled, 
not  by  the  minister  alone,  but  by  every  one 
present. 

"  When,  for  instance,  the  minister  who  leads 
the  devotions  of  the  church  engages  in  the  exercise 
of  prayer,  instead  of  leaving  him  to  go  through 
with  the  form  for  them,  it  is  for  each  one  present 
to  bring  his  own  mind  into  a  devout  and  prayerful 


ON      GOING      TO      CHURCH.  53 

frame.  Knowing  that  we  cannot  add  to  the  know- 
ledge of  the  Lord  respecting  our  wants,  or  even 
change  his  purposes  respecting  our  desires  by 
prayer,  (only  so  far  as  it  has  an  influence  upon  our 
own  state,  and  prepares  us  to  receive  from  him,) 
we  should  endeavor  to  come  into  the  most  feeling 
sense  of  our  dependence  upon  Him,  and  of  our 
relation  to  Him.  Though  we  may  be  joining  in 
prayer  with  others,  we  should  not  for  a  moment, 
be  unmindful  that  we  are  praying  to  the  Lord. 
We  should  endeavor  to  prostrate  our  wills  before 
Him  —  we  should  externally  assume  that  posture 
in  our  devotions,  which  the  feelings  of  true  rever- 
ence will  involuntarily  give  as  the  posture  of  sin- 
cere prayer.  And  the  form  of  words  used  in 
public  prayer,  should  be  such  as  are  most  suited, 
as  a  means  to  produce  the  affections  of  prayer  in 
the  minds  of  all  —  of  raising  their  thoughts  above 
self  and  the  world,  and  of  preparing  the  mind  to 
receive  the  instructions  imparted  from  the  Word 
into  corresponding  affections. 

"  So  also  should  it  be  in  the  exercise  of  sacred 
praise.^'' 

Here  I  remarked.  How  pleasant  it  appeared  to 
see  all  the  members  of  his  own  family  join  in  that 
interesting  exercise. 

*'  True,"  said  he,  "  they  are  all  able  to  do  so, 
although  several  of  them  have  not  what  is  called 
a  natural  ear  —  or  a  natural  voice  for  music.  The 
truth  is,  that  with  proper  early  instruction,  every 


54  ON      GOING      TO      CHURCH. 

child  may,  and  should  be  taught  enough  of  music, 
to  join  in  all  the  ordinary  exercises  of  public  wor- 
ship. I  have  often  found  it  a  most  delightful  ex- 
ercise, and  a  source  of  the  most  happy  influences 
in  our  domestic  circle.  And  then  at  church,  it  is 
of  the  greatest  importance  that  all  children  should 
be  brought  up  to  feel  that  they  have  a  part  to  sus- 
tain in  every  exercise.  But  I  am  diverted  by  your 
allusion  to  my  family.  It  is  important  for  every 
one  to  feel  that  he  has  a  part  to  sustain  in  each  ex- 
ercise of  worship.  And  O,  how  delightful,  too,  it 
is  to  be  able  to  join  in  the  devout  songs  of  praise 
to  the  Lord  in  the  assembly  of  his  people  !  to  join 
in  concert  with  those  who  can  '  sing  with  the  spirit 
and  with  the  understanding  also  ! '  What  the  pos- 
ture and  the  language  o^ prayer  are  to  the  feelings 
of  devotion  —  sacred  7riusic  is  to  the  sentiments  of 
holy  joy  and  sacred  praise.  It  is  the  natural  lan- 
guage of  these  aflfections.  And  as  the  language 
of  prayer  is  to  be  repeated  as  giving  expression  to 
the  feelings  and  desires  of  the  soul,  or  else  as  the 
means  by  which  we  may  be  assisted  to  receive  the 
true  affections  of  reverence,  and  a  feeling  sense 
of  our  dependence  on  the  Lord ;  so  the  exercise  of 
devotional  music  is  to  be  used  to  give  external  ex- 
pression  to  the  feelings  of  holy  joy  and  sacred 
jaraise,  or  else  as  the  means  of  awakening  these 
emotions  in  the  mind.  And  when  we  engage  in 
the  exercise  of  sacred  praise  in  public  worship, 
the  heart,  if  not  the  voice  of  each  one,  should  be 


ON      GOING      TO      CHURCH.  55 

attuned  to  the  sentiments,  and  its  chords  should 
vibrate  in  harmony  with  the  subject. 

"And  when  we  hear  the  Sacred  Scriptures  read, 
or  the  spiritual  doctrines  contained  in  them  un- 
folded in  their  application  to  the  regenerate  life, 
we  should  '  take  heed  how  we  hear.'  Our  minds 
should  be  laid  open  to  the  full  and  deep  impress  of 
what  we  hear.  It  should  be  received  as  addressed 
to  our  own  individual  states,  and  as  what  we  should 
apply  to  ourselves.  And  when  we  retire,  we 
should  carry  it  along  with  us,  stored  up  in  the  mind 
for  future  reflection  and  application  to  life. 

"  When  such  is  the  state  of  those  who  unite  in 
religious  worship,  a  corresponding  sphere  is  cre- 
ated, a  sympathetic  influence  seems  to  pervade  the 
assembly,  and  the  Lord  is  felt  to  be  present  with 
them,  and  in  the  midst  of  them.  The  spirit  of 
truth  can  then  accompany  the  preaching  of  the 
word,  and  like  a  copious  shower  of  rain  descend- 
ing through  a  warm  and  a  genial  atmosphere,  or 
like  the  milder  influences  of  the  distilling  dews 
of  evening,  its  doctrines  can  descend  in  a  manner 
adapted  to  the  states  of  all,  —  giving  strength  to 
the  weak,  consolation  to  the  afflicted,  confidence 
to  the  wavering,  and  causing  all  to  feel  renewed 
life  by  being  elevated  for  a  season  above  self  and 
the  world,  and  brought  nearer  to  Him  who  is  the 
great  fountain  of  influent  life  to  the  soul." 
4 


CHAPTER  VI. 

SELF-EXAMINATION. 

Food  taken  into  the  stomach  does  not  nourish  the  body,  until  it 
undergoes  digestion,  is  taken  into  the  blood,  and  assimilated  in  the 
system  —  corresponding  to  these  are  the  transformations  which  truth 
received  into  the  menjory  must  undergo,  before  it  can  give  nourish- 
ment and  vitality  to  spiritual  life. 

Having  provided  suitable  entertainment  for 
those  visiting  at  his  house,  Mr.  Clifford,  in  accord- 
ance with  his  established  habit,  excused  himself 
for  an  hour,  after  returning  from  church,  in  order 
to  retire  for  the  purpose  of  self-examination. 

Nothing  appears  to  evince  more  clearly  the  de- 
pravity of  the  human  heart,  and  the  shallowness 
of  religious  sentiment  in  the  church  at  the  present 
day,  and  how  little  ground  there  is  for  religious 
truth,  even  in  those  who  profess  to  be  governed  by 
a  faith  in  things  unseen  and  eternal,  than  the  trifling 
and  even  volatile  conversation  which  we  so  often 
hear  immediately  after  the  most  solemn  and  affect- 
ing discourses  from  the  pulpit  on  the  Sabbath. 
I  can  well  remember  the  impressions  I  received 
from  this  prevailing  habit,  while  yet  in  my  child- 
hood.    My  own  mind  was  often  deeply  interested 


SELF-EXAMINATION.  57 

and  affected  by  the  truths  which  I  had  heard. 
And,  instead  of  returning  immediately  into  the 
society  even  of  our  own  family  circle,  I  frequently 
wished  to  retire  and  meditate  on  the  subject,  and 
consider  it  in  its  practical  application  to  myself. 
Such  being  the  impressions  left  upon  my  mind, 
my  feelings  have  been  often  shocked  at  the  light 
and  frivolous  conversation  in  which  almost  all 
allowed  themselves  to  indulge.  The  passing  news 
of  the  day  —  the  gossip  of  the  neighborhood  whis- 
pered into  the  ear  on  the  way  to  church  —  the  ap- 
pearance of  a  stranger  —  the  form  of  a  fashiona- 
ble dress  or  bonnet,  was  often  the  first,  and  ap- 
parently the  uppermost  subject  on  the  mind  even 
of  the  members  of  the  church. 

Surely  it  is  not  because  we  do  not  hear,  but 
because  we  do  not  take  heed  how  we  hear,  that  we 
remain  in  such  spiritual  ignorance.  We  often  hear 
too  much,  but  give  to  what  we  hear  no  reflection. 
We  make  religion  to  consist  merely  in  attending 
religious  meetings,  and  hearing  without  giving 
attention  to  the  duties  of  self-examination,  or  mak- 
ing any  application  of  the  truth  to  our  own  state. 

This  almost  universal  habit  had  not  escaped  the 
observation  of  ^Ir.  Clifford.  But  what  he  saw  and  felt 
as  an  evil  in  others,  he  sought  for  in  himself,  and 
endeavored  to  correct  it.  He  therefore  made  it 
his  almost  invariable  custom,  after  returning  from 
church  on  Sabbath  morning,  to  retire  by  himself 
in  order  to  reflect  on  the  subject  of  the  sermon, 


58  SELF-EX  iiMINATION. 

and  make  a  practical  application  of  the  truth  to 
his  own  state  of  mind. 

His  pious  mother  had  trained  him  up  from  a 
child  to  write  down  the  text  and  the  heads  of  the 
sermon  in  his  journal.  And  she  had  also  encour- 
aged him  to  transcribe  from  memory  such  portions 
of  the  sermon  as  he  could  recall  to  mind,  immedi- 
ately after  returning  home. 

This  gave  him  the  habit  of  fixed  attention  to 
what  he  heard,  and  it  also  gave  him  great  facility 
in  recalling  it  afterwards. 

As  he  advanced  in  life,  he  found  this  habit  of 
great  advantage.  Not  because  he  then  thought 
best  to  transcribe  the  sermon  into  his  journal, 
but  he  still  wished  to  recall  to  mind,  and  review 
with  attention  the  doctrine  and  the  sentiments 
it  contained.  If,  at  any  time,  he  detected  what 
appeared  to  him  as  inconsistent,  either  in  the  doc- 
trine, or  the  reasoning  by  which  it  was  supported, 
instead  of  speaking  of  it  openly  to  the  detriment  of 
Mr.  Wakefield,  his  pastor,  he  would  take  an  early 
opportunity  to  inquire  of  him,  if  he  had  rightly 
understood  the  subject.  And  if  he  found  on  in- 
quiry, that  he  was  not  mistaken,  he  would  then 
freely  state  his  objections  to  him.  And  they  would 
enter  upon  a  free  and  candid  inquiry  into  the  sub- 
ject, which  often  resulted  in  their  mutual  benefit. 

But  the  great  point  which  Mr.  Clifford  always 
kept  before  him  at  these  seasons,  was  that  of  self- 
examination.     Taking  such  parts  of  the  sermon  as 


SELF-EXAMINATION.  59 

had  a  practical  bearing  on  his  own  state,  he  held 
them  up  before  his  mind  in  order  to  compare  his 
feehngs  and  habits  of  life  with  them. 

Here  was  the  secret  of  Mr.  Clifford's  growth 
and  advancement  in  religious  life.  He  practically 
applied  his  religious  teachings  to  himself.  He 
held  up  the  truth  which  he  heard  before  him  — 
saw  and  compared  himself,  with  all  his  deficiencies, 
by  that  as  a  standard.  Here,  he  would  say  to 
himself,  I  have  been  deficient  in  some  duty. 
There,  again,  I  performed  the  duty  externally, 
but  it  was  not  done  in  a  right  spirit  —  it  was  done 
too  much  as  a  mere  duty,  not  because  it  was  loved. 
In  some  other  respects,  perhaps,  he  could  perceive 
he  had  made  some  progress.  There  was  no  stand- 
ing still  with  him.  He  never  rested,  or  felt  satis- 
fied with  his  attainments.  Forgetting  the  things 
behind,  he  was  pressing  on  to  something  higher 
and  better.  He  was  deeply  impressed  with  the 
belief,  that  the  tendency  of  true  spiritual  religion 
was  to  make  us  pure  in  heart,  even  as  Christ  is 
pure.  He  saw  and  felt,  too,  that  if  we  really  en- 
deavor to  follow  the  Lord  in  the  regeneration,  we 
shall  have  to  contend  with  foes  within  as  well  as 
without.  That  it  requires  many  painful  conflicts 
to  subdue  our  evil  passions  and  selfish  desires,  and 
to  bring  them  all  into  subjection  to  the  laws  of 
divine  order.  What  every  Christian  has  to  learn 
by  experience,  he  had  learned  ;  —  that  many  were 
the  "  foes  of  his  own  household  "  —  the  evils  and 


60  SELF-EXAMINATION. 

the  false  persuasions  of  his  own  mind.  But  still 
he  kept  constantly  in  view,  that  the  end  of  the 
Christian's  warfare  is  peace.  Even  in  the  darkest 
hour  of  spiritual  temptations,  he  was  cheered  by 
the  promises  and  encouraged  by  the  example  of 
his  Lord  and  Master.  "  Be  of  good  cheer,  1  have 
overcome  the  world.  Peace  I  leave  with  you,  my 
peace  I  give  unto  you.  Let  not  your  heart  be 
troubled." 

The  kind  of  preaching  which  Mr.  Clifford  most 
enjoyed,  was  that  which  presented  the  doctrines  of 
religious  truth  most  clearly  in  their  practical  rela- 
tions to  life  and  conduct  —  which  aimed  at  reach- 
ing the  springs  and  motives  of  action  —  which 
shrunk  not  from  declaring  the  whole  truth,  and 
which,  while  it  gave  no  unnecessary  pain,  aimed 
at  probing  the  disease  to  its  centre,  in  order  to 
work  an  effectual  cure. 

One  custom  peculiar  to  him,  was  not  to  suffer 
any  one  exercise  of  the  Sabbath  to  press  on  ano- 
ther so  soon  as  to  destroy  or  impair  its  appropriate 
influence.  He  was  well  acquainted  with  the  phi- 
losophy of  the  mind,  and  he  knew  that  nothing 
could  ever  be  gained  by  over-tasking  its  powers  — 
that  the  most  important  and  interesting  exercises 
may  become  tedious  and  useless,  either  by  being 
too  frequent  in  their  recurrence,  or  too  much  pro- 
longed in  duration.  After  much  reflection  and 
observation,  he  had  come  to  the  conclusion,  that 
one  exercise  on  the  Sabbath  expressly  for  religious 


SELF-EXAMINATION.  61 

worship^  was  as  beneficial  in  its  results  as  more. 
And  he  accordingly  did  not  attend  meeting  for 
worship,  except  at  the  morning  service. 

He  wished  to  hear  religious  truth  then  presented 
in  a  clear  and  forcible  manner,  so  as  to  leave  a 
deep  and  an  abiding  impression  on  the  mind. 
He  desired  to  have  solid  matter  for  reflection. 
But  then  he  knew,  that  if  he  would  profit  by  his 
pastor's  instruction,  he  must  make  a  practical  ap- 
plication  of  it  to  his  own  state  of  mind.  Instead, 
therefore,  of  allowing  the  impressions  he  received 
at  morning  worship,  to  be  immediately  effaced,  by 
the  repetition  of  another  exercise  of  the  same  kind, 
he  took  time  to  reflect  on  what  he  had  heard.  He 
endeavored  to  digest  and  make  it  his  own,  so  that 
it  became  spiritual  food,  forming  the  flesh  and  the 
blood  of  his  spiritual  life. 

Before  cOming  to  a  determination,  however,  to 
adopt  this  course,  he  had  some  conscientious  scru- 
ples, and  several  serious  conversations  with  Mr. 
Wakefield,  his  worthy  pastor.  He  said  to  him  one 
day  in  conversation  on  this  subject,  "  I  often  find 
my  mind  to  be  much  confused  and  weary,  after 
returning  from  a  second  or  third  meeting  for  re- 
ligious worship.  I  have  not  time  during  the  inter- 
mission to  give  the  first  sermon  sufficient  reflec- 
tion, so  as  to  feel  prepared  for  another  subject. 
And  when  I  attempt  to  think  them  over  together, 
to  review  the  subjects,  and  apply  the  sentiments  to 
imy  own  mind,  I  am  often  reminded  of  a  person 


62  SELF-EXAMINATION. 

who  unwisely  takes  a  second  dinner,  while  the 
first  would  naturally  be  undergoing  the  process  of 
digestion  ;  the  result  of  doing  which  is,  to  inter- 
rupt the  order  of  nature,  and  to  debilitate  rather 
than  give  strength  to  the  system." 

Without  wishing  to  dictate  or  to  prescribe  his 
course  of  duty,  he  very  frankly  expressed  to  Mr. 
Wakefield  his  own  views  on  this  subject.  "  If 
you,"  said  he,  "  instead  of  attempting  to  write 
two  or  three  sermons  a  week,  would  concentrate 
all  your  studies  into  one,  and  bring  forth  a  sermon 
that  is  mature,  replete  with  instruction,  and  con- 
taining spiritual  food  for  reflection,  it  would,  as  it 
appears  to  me,  produce  a  more  healthful  and  or- 
derly growth  in  religious  life. 

"  In  the  first  place,  if  you  preached  but  one  ser- 
mon on  the  Sabbath,  your  meetings  would  be  more 
punctually  attended,  and  your  discourses  would  be 
listened  to  with  greater  attention.  And  again, 
your  own  attention  would  not  be  distracted  by  a 
variety  of  subjects  during  the  week,  but  you 
could  give  such  mature  reflection,  and  systematic 
order  to  your  sermons,  as  would  render  them  much 
more  instructive  ;  and,  besides,  you  would  have 
strength  and  ability  to  cause  them  to  make  a  deep 
and  abiding  impression  on  the  mind.  And  my 
own  experience  has  taught  me,  that  one  such  dis- 
course, in  which  religious  truth  is  presented  with 
clearness  and  force,  and  in  a  manner  to  make  a 
deep   inqpression  on   the   mind,  is   incomparably 


SELF-EXAMINATION.  63 

better  in  its  effects,  than  to  have  the  attention  dis- 
tracted and  wearied  by  continually  listening  to  a 
variety  of  wordy  declamatory  efforts,  which  con- 
tain but  little  matter  for  future  reflection." 

"  But  what  would  you  have  my  people  do  in  the 
afternoon  ?  "  said  Mr.  Wakefield. 

"Do,"  said  Mr.  Clifford,  "in  the  first  place,  I 
would  give  them  something  to  reflect  upon  in  the 
morning  sermon,  and  then  teach  them  liow  to  re- 
flect, and  give  them  time  to  do  so." 

"  Alas,"  replied  Mr.  Wakefield,  "I  fear  you  are 
not  aware  how  few  there  are  who  care  enough 
about  a  sermon  to  give  it  any  reflection." 

"  True,"  said  Mr.  Clifford,  "  but  I  have  thought 
that  the  present  mode  of  preaching  and  of  spend- 
ing the  Sabbath,  directly  calculated  to  destroy  the 
litle  inclination  there  is  still  remaining  to  give  seri- 
ous reflection  to  religious  truth.  In  the  first  place, 
but  little  that  is  practical  is  given  them  to  reflect 
upon ;  and  then  they  are  allowed  no  time  to  re- 
flect upon  that,  before  they  are  required  to  attend 
upon  another  exercise  of  the  same  kind." 

"  But  what  course  would  you  suggest }  "  in- 
quired Mr.  Wakefield. 

"  After  allowing  proper  time  for  reflecting  on  the 
subject  of  the  morning  sermon,"  replied  Mr.  Clif- 
ford, "  I  would  have  a  different  kind  of  exercise 
in  the  latter  part  of  the  day,  which  would  call  up 
new  and  different  trains  of  thought  and  reflection, 
while  it   would  leave  undisturbed  the   deep  and 


64  SELF-EXAM INATlON. 

inward  feelings  and  impressions  awakened  by  the 
morning  service.  The  sentiments  and  feelings  of 
worship  are  peculiarly  appropriated  to  this  service. 
Then,  the  spiritual  doctrines  of  religion  should  be 
presented  in  their  ^^rac^icY//  application  to  the  re- 
generate life,  and  in  a  manner  too,  to  awaken  deep 
reflection,  and  give  rise  to  strict  self-examination. 
This  state  I  would  leave  undisturbed  by  again  at- 
tempting to  awaken  a  similar  kind  of  sentiment 
and  reflection.  But  there  might  be  an  exercise  for 
doctrinal  instruction  —  or  for  social  conference  on 
doctrinal  and  practical  subjects,  which  would  not  at 
all  interfere  with  the  influence  of  the  morning 
service.  At  that  time  the  more  advanced  mem- 
bers of  the  church  might  meet  and  freely  converse 
together  on  subjects  and  principles  then  engaging 
their  attention.  The  youth  and  children  could  be 
brought  together  in  classes  according  to  their  ages 
and  degrees  of  advancement,  and  have  a  system- 
atic course  of  religious  instruction  laid  out,  adapted 
to  their  various  states ;  so  that  all  the  members  of 
the  society,  who  could  be  brought  to  feel  any  in- 
terest in  the  subject,  would  be  provided  for." 

"  I  am  convinced,"  said  Mr.  Wakefield,  "  that 
the  course  you  recommend  is  far  better,  and  I  only 
have  to  regret  that  the  public  sentiment,  and  con- 
firmed habits  of  my  people  are  such,  as  do  not  ad- 
mit of  adopting  it  at  once  in  practice." 

Mr.  Cliflbrd  did  not  fear  the  reproach  of  being 
singular ;  he  knew  that  every  man  who  is  at  all 


SELF-EXAMINATION.  65 

enlightened  in  advance  of  his  contemporaries,  has 
that  to  encounter.  He  resolved,  therefore,  with 
the  approbation  of  Mr.  Wakefield,  to  enter  upon 
this  course  ;  and  in  his  own  family  to  adopt  that 
mode  of  spending  the  afternoon  of  the  Sabbath, 
which  he  thought  would  be  most  conducive  to  their 
improvement. 

The  time  which,  as  we  have  observed,  he  him- 
self devoted  to  reflection  and  self-examination,  he 
required  his  children  to  spend  in  the  same  manner 
that  he  had  been  accustomed  to  do  in  his  youth. 
Immediately  after  returning  from  church,  each 
one  of  them  was  required  to  record  the  text,  and 
to  transcribe  into  his  journal  such  portions  of  the 
sermon  as  he  was  then  able  to  recall.  To  what 
account  this  was  turned,  the  reader  will  see  in  the 
following  chapter. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

CONVERSATION   AT   DINNER    ON    THE    SABBATH. 
*'  The  Son  of  Man  is  Lord  even  of  the  Sabbath  day." 

Punctually  at  two  o'clock,  the  usual  hour,  the 
bell  rung  as  a  summons  to  a  well-served  dinner. 
It  was  the  usual  custom  of  Mr.  Clifford  to  sit  at 
dinner  with  his  family  a  whole  hour.  Instead  of 
meeting  them  at  the  table  w^ith  all  the  cares  and 
anxieties  of  business  on  his  mind,  he  endeavored  to 
throw  off  every  thought  on  these  subjects,  to  relax 
his  mind  in  the  quiet  sphere  of  social  enjoyment, 
and  enter  into  free  conversation  with  his  wife  and 
children. 

After  having  gone  through  with  the  honors  of 
the  table  in  connection  with  his  wife,  he  entered 
into  free  and  familiar  conversation  on  such  topics 
as  he  deemed  most  useful  and  instructive  to  his 
children.  But,  on  the  Sabbath,  the  standing  sub- 
ject of  conversation  while  at  table,  was  the  sermon 
of  the  preceding  morning. 

Without  varying  from  his  custom  in  consequence 
of  having  company  at  dinner,  he  began  as  usual  : 
"  Well  Jane,  my  daughter,  can  you  name  good 
Mr.  Wakefield's  text  this  morning  .^" 


CONVERSATION     AT     DINNER.  67 

"Yes,  papa,  I  remember  it  easy  to-day,  for  it 
was  part  of  the  fourth  commandment." 

"What  were  the  words,  my  child?" 

"  '  Remember  the  Sabbath  day  and  keep  it 
holy,'  Exodus,  20th  chapter  and  8th  verse." 

"  Very  well.  Can  you,  Ellen,  now  give  us  the 
heads  of  the  sermon  .^"  inquired  Mr.  Clifford. 

"  After  some  introductory  remarks,"  replied 
Ellen,  "  Mr.  Wakefield  said  he  should,  ^ first ^ 
endeavor  to  explain  the  signification  of  the  Sab- 
bath in  the  Jewish  church — secondly^  that  he 
should  remark  on  the  distinction  between  the  Jew- 
ish and  the  Christian  Sabbath  —  and  thirdly^  that 
he  should  speak  on  the  mode  of  oh  serving  the  Sab- 
bath —  on  what  is  to  be  understood  by  keeping  it 
holy:  " 

"  Very  well,"  said  her  father,  "  and  now, 
George,  you  may  read  what  you  have  transcribed 
into  your  journal  of  what  was  said  on  the  first 
head."  George  then  read  from  his  journal  as 
follows  : 

"  In  the  representative^  or  typical  church  of  the 
Jews,  time  was  divided  into  periods  of  seven  days, 
seven  years,  and  seven  times  seven,  or  forty-nine 
years.  Of  these  periods  of  time,  the  first  six  days, 
and  the  first  six  years,  they  were  commanded  to 
labor,  and  do  all  their  work,  but  they  were  required 
to  abstain  from  all  labor,  and  to  rest  during  the 
seventh.  These  periods  of  time  in  that  church, 
represented  states  of  mind.     The  six  days  and  the 


68  CONVERSATION      AT      DINNER 

six  years  of  labor,  represented  the  labors  and  com- 
bats, or  spiritual  temptations,  which  are  to  be 
passed  through  during  our  regeneration  ;  —  the 
seventh  day,  and  the  seventh  year,  the  rest  and 
peace  which  follow  the  labors  of  self-denial." 

Here  Mrs.  Livingston  said,  "  I  should  be  happy 
to  have  you,  Mr.  Clifford,  explain  further  what  was 
said  in  this  part  of  the  discourse.  The  explana- 
tion was  new  to  me,  and  I  should  be  glad  to  under- 
stand it  better." 

"The  Jewish  church,"  said  Mr.  Clifford,  "was 
not  a  true  spiritual  church,  but  the  merely  typical 
representative  of  such  a  church.  Its  outward 
rites  and  ceremonies  of  worship,  were  such  as 
could  only  represent  by  external  signs,  and  natural 
symbols,  true  spiritual  worship.  A  similar  expla- 
nation is  to  be  given  of  the  division  of  time  in  that 
church  into  periods  of  seven  days,  seven  years, 
and  seven  times  seven  years.  This  division  of 
time  into  these  stated  periods,  was  to  represent 
by  correspondence,  the  various  changes  of  state 
through  which  every  man  must  pass  while  he  is 
being  regenerated  and  prepared  for  heaven." 

"  But  will  you  have  the  goodness  to  explain," 
said  Mrs.  Livingsion,  "  what  we  are  to  understand 
by  the  natural.,  and  what  by  the  spiritual  or  re- 
generate  state." 

"All  men  are  born  into  the  world,"  replied  Mr. 
Clifford,"  with  an  hereditary  ruling  affection,  which 
is  selfish,  or  which  proraps  them  to  seek  their  own 


ON      THE      SABBATH.  69 

good,  and  to  disregard  the  good  of  others  ;  —  while 
they  continue  to  live,  and  to  act  from  this,  as  the 
ruling  affection  of  life,  they  are  said  to  be  in  a 
natural,  or  in  an  unregenerate  state.  But  when, 
from  an  acknowledgment  of  the  authority  of  the 
divine  law,  man  denies  himself  the  gratification  of 
this  affection,  and  lives  in  a  state  of  voluntary  sub- 
jection and  conscientious  obedience  to  the  truth,  as 
the  law  of  his  life,  he  is  then  said  to  be  in  a 
spiritual  or  in  a  regenerate  state  of  mind.  The 
love  of  self  with  its  gratification,  is  the  life  of  the 
natural  man  —  obedience  to  the  truth,  from  the 
love  of  others,  and  from  an  acknowledgment  of 
the  Lord  as  its  source,  is  the  life  of  the  spiritual 
man." 

"  Do  then  the  six  days  of  labor  signify  the 
natural  state,  and  the  Sabbath  of  rest  the  spiritual 
state  ?  "  inquired  Mrs.  Livingston. 

"  Not  exactly  so,"  said  Mr.  Clifford.  "  But  I 
was  going  on  to  explain  further,  and  make  an  ap- 
plication of  this  natural  division  of  time  to  rep- 
resent those  changes  of  state,  which  take  place 
while  leing  regenerated,  or  while  coming  into  a 
spiritual  state  of  mind." 

"  When  a  child  shall  have  passed  the  period  of 
instruction  and  of  subjection  to  his  parents,  and 
arrived  at  the  age  of  freedom,  and  moral  respon- 
sibility, he  will  be  left  free  to  form  his  own  char- 
acter—  that  for  which  he  is  responsible.  If  he 
then  act  from  his  hereditary  selfish  affections,  and 


70  CONVERSATION     AT     DINNER 

disregard  the  known  laws  of  God,  and  violate  his 
conscience,  he  will  continue  to  be  a  merely  natu- 
ral man.  Or,  if,  from  merely  selfish  motives,  he 
live  in  external  obedience  to  the  laws  of  moral 
and  civil  life,  though  a  better  citizen,  and  a  better 
member  of  society,  still  he  will  be  merely  a  natu- 
ral man.  But  if,  on  the  other  hand,  he  shall  then 
endeavor  to  live  in  conscientious  obedience  to  the 
truth  which  he  may  have  been  taught,  shall  deny 
himself  when  tempted  to  violate  it,  and  make  that 
the  law  of  his  life,  then  his  spiritual  life  will  have 
begun.  Spiritual  or  regenerate  life  commences 
by  a  voluntary  obedience  to  the  truth  as  the  ac- 
knowledged law  of  God.  But  spiritual  life  will 
then  have  only  begun.  Many  days  of  labor  are 
to  be  passed  through  before  he  will  come  into  a 
state  of  spiritual  rest^ 

"  The  six  days  of  labor,  then,"  said  Mrs.  Liv- 
ingston, "  represent  the  labors  of  self-denial  — 
or  the  opposition  which  is  felt  between  the  two 
opposite  principles  of  the  mind — the  love  of  self, 
and  the  love  of  our  neighbor,  while  man  is  pass- 
ing from  the  natural  to  the  spiritual  state." 

"  Just  so,"  said  Mr.  Clifford.  "  Before  we  can  be 
brought  to  give  up  our  own  wills,  and  to  act  from 
love  to  others,  a  great  work  must  be  done  within 
us.  All  our  latent  evils  must  be  brought  out  and 
shown  to  us  in  such  a  manner,  that  we  shall  see 
them  and  be  led  to  forsake  them.  There  is  a  sense 
in  which  we  must  lay  down  our  own  lives,  and 


ON      THE      SABBATH.  71 

forsake  all  that  we  have,  before  we  can  be  fully 
regenerated,  and  become  true  disciples  of  the 
Lord,  so  as  to  enter  into  the  rest  signified  by  the 
Sabbath." 

Here  Charles  remarked,  "  There  is  a  continued 
succession  of  weeks,  or  of  these  same  periods  of 
time,  and  I  should  like  to  inquire,  if  it  would  not 
interrupt  the  order  of  your  explanation,  whether  a 
person  who  is  leing  regenerated^  must  always  be 
passing  through  the  same  alternations  of  state.  If 
so,  it  would  seem  that  he  is  not  making  any  pro- 
gress." 

"The  work  of  man's  regeneration,"  said  Mr. 
Clifford,  "  is  a  great  work.  It  consists  of  many 
days  and  nights,  weeks  and  years,  before  it  is 
fully  accomplished. 

"  You  recollect  that  time  was  divided  into  peri- 
ods of  seven  days,  seven  years,  and  seven  times 
seven  years,  or  the  period  of  the  general  jubilee, 
when  a  new  series  again  commenced.  This  great 
period  was  that  which  represented  the  full  com- 
pletion of  the  work  of  man's  regeneration,  and 
preparation  for  the  heavenly  rest,  —  that  state 
when  the  love  of  self  is  effectually  broken  and 
subdued,  and  the  Lord  reigns  in,  and  governs  the 
whole  life. 

"But  before  coming  into  this  state,  there  are 
many  successive  states  to  be  passed  through. 
Each  individual  act  of  serious  self-denial,  occa- 
sions internal  struggles,  or  spiritual  combats  in  the 
5 


72  CONVERSATION      AT      DINNER 

mind  —  a  state  of  spiritual  labor,  which  is  repre- 
sented by  the  six  days'  labor  in  the  Jewish  church. 
But  when  we  have  effectually  overcome  the  evil, 
and  are  brought  to  feel  more  deeply  our  depend- 
ence on  the  Lord,  and  to  act  from  ^  spirit  of  love 
to  our  neighbor,  then  we  come  into  a  correspond- 
ing season  of  spiritual  rest  —  into  the  state  repre- 
sented by  the  Sabbath.  Many  are  the  successive 
alternations  of  state  through  which  we  must  pass. 
Our  evils,  or  spiritual  enemies,  are  an  innumera- 
ble host,  which  cannot  be  overcome  at  once,  '  but 
by  little  and  little,'  must  they  be  driven  out.  It  is 
only  by  repeated  and  successive  combats  with 
them,  as  they  are  individually  manifested,  that  they 
will  be  at  last  overcome  and  exterminated,  so  that 
the  spiritual  truths  of  the  church,  represented  by 
the  sons  of  Israel,  can  come  in,  take  possession  of 
the  land,  and  enjoy  the  Sabbath  of  spiritual  rest." 

Feroline  was  then  requested  to  read  from  her 
journal  what  she  had  transcribed  from  the  sermon, 
on  the  distinction  between  the  Sabbath  of  the 
Jeivish  and  Christian  churches.  She  then  read 
as  follows : 

"There  is  precisely  the  s«me  distinction,"  re- 
marked Mr.  Wakefield,  "  between  the  Sabbath  of 
the  Jewish  and  the  Christian  churches,  that  there 
is  between  the  two  churches  themselves.  Inter- 
nally, or  considered  as  to  their  origin  and  spiritual 
design,  these  two  churches  are  the  same ;  but, 
externally,  or  as  to  their  outward  form,  they  are 


ON      THE      SABBATH.  73 

very  different.  They  were  both,  and  equally, 
revelations  from  the  Lord,  and  established  by  di- 
vine authority.  Their  design  is  the  regeneration 
of  man.  But  the  Jewish  dispensation  was  not  a 
true  spiritual  church.  It  was  only  the  external  or 
typical  representative  of  such  a  church.  As  re- 
spects the  Jews,  it  had  no  internal  spiritual  char- 
acter. They  were  external  natural  men,  and  only 
made  the  medium  of  receiving  and  of  giving  to  the 
world,  the  mere  outward  form^  or  typical  repre- 
sentation of  a  spiritual  church.  But  the  Christian 
church  is  a  higher,  a  more  spiritual  dispensation. 
For  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  by  whom  it  was  estab- 
lished, spiritually  fulfilled  in  himself  all  that  was 
typically  represented  in  the  Jewish  church.  That 
is,  he  fulfilled  the  Sacred  Scriptures  of  the  Old 
Testament,  by  taking  upon  himself  our  nature, 
and  while  being  glorified,  passing  through  all  those 
different  states  which  were  typically  represented 
in  the  corresponding  external  forms,  and  significa- 
tives  of  the  Jewish  church.  And  as  far  as  man 
follows  him  in  the  regeneration,  he  will  also  pass 
through  corresponding  states,  and  come  into  the 
internal  spiritual  state  of  mind  which  was  out- 
wardly represented  by  the  Sabbath  of  the  Jews, 
The  nearest  approach  to  this  state  of  spiritual  rest 
to  which  the  merely  natural  man  can  approach,  is 
such  a  state  of  natural  rest  as  was  enforced  on  the 
Jews.  But  as  man  becomes  spiritual,  as  he  follows 
the  Lord  in  the  regeneration,  he  will  come  into  the 


74  CONVERSATION      AT      DINNER 

fulfilment  of  this  external  form.  The  Sabbath  will 
not  be  merely  a  day  of  abstinence  from  labor  and 
natural  excitement  and  pleasure,  but  a  day  of  in- 
ward peace  and  positive  enjoyment.  The  spiritual 
affections  of  love  towards  man  will  flow  forth  freely 
into  corresponding  external  acts  and  expressions 
of  joy." 

"  The  distinction  then  between  the  Sabbath  of 
the  Jews  and  the  Lord's  day,"  said  Mrs.  Living- 
ston, inquiringly,  "  is,  that  the  one  was  the  mere 
outward  /orm,  of  which  the  other  is  not  only  the 
form  but  the  reality  ?" 

"I  should  rather  say,"  answered  Mr.  Clifford, 
"  that  the  Sabbath  of  the  Jews  was  the  nearest 
form,  which  the  merely  natural  man  can  be  made 
to  observe  and  keep,  of  the  state  of  spiritual  rest 
signified  by  the  Sabbath.  Had  the  Lord  con- 
formed strictly  to  the  ideas  of  the  Jews  respecting 
the  Sabbath,  they  would  not  have  accused  him  so 
frequently  of  breaking  it.  But  when  he  brought 
forth  the  affections  of  divine  love  into  the  works 
which  he  wrought,  and  into  the  doctrines  which 
he  taught,  '  This  man  cannot  be  of  God,'  said  the 
Jews,  '  for  he  keepeth  not  the  Sabbath  day.'  But 
I  am  already  remarking  on  the  third  head  of  Mr. 
Wakefield's  sermon  —  on  the  mode  of  observing 
the  Sabhath  —  or,  luhat  is  to  be  understood  by  keep- 
ing it  holy.'''' 

The    sentiment    had    been   advanced   by   Mr. 
Wakefield  on  this  head,  that  the  ideas  which  men 


ON      THE      SABBATH.  75 

form  of  the  Sabbath,  correspond  to  their  ideas  of 
heaven. 

Here  Mrs.  Livingston  inquired  "whether  the 
ideas  of  men  respecting  the  Sabbath,  and  the 
proper  mode  of  observing,  it  must  not  necessarily 
change  as  they  were  advancing  in  the  regenera- 
tion, or  from  a  natural  to  a  spiritual  state." 

"  Undoubtedly  they  must,"  answered  Mr.  Clif- 
ford. "  The  strict  pharisaical  manner  in  which 
the  Jews,  and  some  sects  of  Christians  but  little 
in  advance  of  the  Jews,  observe  the  Sabbath,  is 
in  perfect  accordance  with  the  ideas  which  they, 
and  all  other  natural  men,  seem  to  have  of  the 
nature  of  holiness.  Having  no  true  idea  of  an  in- 
ternal Sabbath  —  a  state  of  spiritual  rest,  they  re- 
gard only  the  outward  form  and  appearance. 
Instead  of  looking  on  the  Sabbath  as  a  state  of 
spiritual  conjunction  with  the  Lord  and  with 
heaven — a  state  of  that  true  inward  happiness 
which  springs  from  the  union  of  goodness  and  truth, 
of  inclination  and  duty,  they  seek  only  to  put  on 
such  a  sanctimonious  garb  and  appearance  as  ac- 
cords with  their  gross  and  natural  ideas  of  the 
nature  of  holiness.  Hence  come  that  rigid  punc- 
tilious adherence  to  all  merely  external  rites,  and 
formal  observances  —  that  banishment  of  cheer- 
fulness and  social  enjoyment  —  that  painful  aus- 
terity and  gloom  with  which  the  day  is  often  in- 
vested, but  which  corresponds  so  perfectly  to  their 
idea  of  heaven." 


76  CONVERSATION     AT      DINNER 

"  Your  remarks,"  said  Mrs.  Livingston, "  remind 
me  of  the  good  woman,  who,  when  correcting  her 
son,  attempted  to  appeal  to  his  fears  and  render 
him  submissive,  by  telling  him,  that  unless  he  re- 
formed and  became  a  better  boy,  he  would  never 
go  to  heaven.  —  I  don't  care  whether  I  ever  do, 
said  the  child,  for  it  is  ahoays  Sabbath  day  there." 

"  The  poor  child  only  expressed  what  I  fear  has 
been  but  too  often  the  sentiment  of  all  children 
brought  up  under  the  prevailing  rigid  puritanical 
views  of  the  Sabbath,"  said  Mr.  Clifford. 

"  As  I  was  remarking,  they  seem  to  have  but 
little  more  idea  of  filling  the  Sabbath  with  its  cor- 
responding spirit,  and  of  freely  bringing  forth  on 
that  day,  spiritual  affections  into  the  works  of 
charity,  and  into  the  forms  and  relations  of  social 
life,  than  the  Jews  had.  Like  the  Pharisees  among 
the  Jews,  those  rigid  and  external  sects  among 
Christians,  have  set  up  a  standard  of  holiness,  re- 
quiring those  punctilious  outward  observances,  and 
a  continual  round  of  attendance  on  public  worship, 
by  which  they  test  the  virtue  of  all  actions.  Any 
departure  from  this  standard  draws  forth  their  cen- 
sure and  condemnation.  And  should  a  more  spir- 
itual Church  now  arise  in  the  midst  of  them,  which 
should  really  keep  the  Sabbath,  as  the  Lord's 
day — ^and  bring  forth  freely  true  spiritual  affec- 
tions into  the  forms  of  charity,  use,  and  true  social 
enjoyment  on  the  plane  of  religious  affections,  the 
same  accusations  would  be  brought  against  such  a 


ON      THE      SABBATH.  77 

Church  which  the  Jews  so  often  brought  against 
the  Lord,  for  working  miracles,  and  in  a  free  so- 
cial manner  imparting  instruction  on  that  day  — 
*  This  man  cannot  be  of  God,  for  he  keepeth  not 
the  Sabbath  day.' " 

"  I  would  not,  however,  object  to  their  mode  of 
observing  the  Sabbath,  or  their  views  respecting  it, 
when  considered  merely  in  relation  to  their  state. 
Their  views  of  the  Sabbath  are  such  as  the  merely 
natural  man  must  have  of  all  religious  truth ;  and 
such  as  the  lowest  form  of  Christianity,  which  is 
suited  to  his  state,  must  necessarily  teach.  We 
ought  not,  therefore,  to  take  from  them  this  degree 
of  acknowledgment,  or  this  outward  mode  of  observ- 
ing the  Sabbath,  until  they  are  prepared  for  some- 
thing higher.  But  we  should  object  to  these  views 
of  the  Sabbath  being  enforced  as  a  standard  for 
others.  For,  after  the  work  of  regeneration  shall 
have  really  commenced,  and  man  has  begun  to 
learn  by  experience  the  nature  of  true  holiness, 
he  will',  by  degrees,  come  into  higher  views  of  the 
Sabbath,  and  into  a  corresponding  external  mode 
of  observing  the  day. 

"The  Lord,  to  appearance,  lay  dead  during 
the  Sabbath  of  the  Jews.  And  he  is  spiritually 
dead  in  the  merely  external,  formal  Sabbath  of 
the  natural  man,  and  a  pharisaical  Church.  But, 
as  spiritual  life  begins  and  grows  in  the  mind,  the 
Lord  will  appear  to  arise  from  the  dead  ;  his  cha- 
racter will  open,  and  become  exalted  within  the 


78  CONVERSATION     AT     DINNER. 

mind  ;  we  shall  have  clearer  views  of  spiritual 
truth,  and  corresponding  perceptions  of  the  mode 
of  bringing  it  forth  into  life  ;  —  we  shall  learn  by 
experience,  '  that  the  Son  of  man  is  Lord  even  of 
the  Sabbath  day.' 

"  As  the  consequence  of  advancing  spiritual  life, 
and  the  internal  union  of  inclination  and  duty  — 
of  goodness  and  truth  in  the  soul,  our  ideas  of  ho- 
liness must  change,  and  our  external  mode  of  keep- 
ing the  Sabbath  must  undergo  a  corresponding 
change.  The  limits  of  our  horizon  will  be  en- 
larged. Those  rigid  and  narrow  views,  those  dark 
and  gloomy  associations  connected  with  the  Sab- 
bath, will  pass  away.  Those  external  bonds  of 
irksome  restraint  will  be  broken ;  and  instead  of 
being  a  day  of  weariness  and  painful  confinement, 
it  will  become  a  season  of  internal  peace  and  joy, 
and  of  corresponding  works  of  charity  and  ex- 
pressions of  happiness  and  delight.  So  that  what 
were  at  first  but  the  walls  of  our  prison,  will 
become  transformed  into  the  circumference  of  our 
pleasures." 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

VISITING   THE    SICK A   SCENE. 

"  Almighty  God  !  'tis  right,  'tis  just, 
That  earthly  frames  should  turn  to  dust ; 
But,  O  the  sweet,  transporting  truth  — 
The  soul  shall  bloom  in  endless  youth." 

Woodworth. 

Aftee  rising  from  dinner  sufficient  time  was 
always  allowed  for  the  necessary  attention  to  a 
lesson  in  the  Bible,  as  preparatory  to  the  instruc- 
tion about  to  be  given.  At  an  appointed  hour  in 
the  afternoon  several  children  and  youth  of  the 
neighborhood  regularly  came  in  to  join  those  of 
Mr.  CliffiDrd's  own  family,  making  a  Bible  class  of 
about  twenty  in  number. 

Mr.  Clifford  devoted  a  full  hour,  and  often  a 
longer  time,  in  efforts  to  instruct  and  interest  those 
who  looked  to  him  as  their  spiritual  teacher  and 
guide.  And  this  he  regarded  as  one  of  his  most 
useful  fields  of  labor. 

But  the  interval  of  time  between  dinner  and 
meeting  his  class  in  the  Bible  he  usually  employed 
either  in  visiting  the  sick,  or  in  dispensing  charity 
among  the  deserving  poor  in  his  neighborhood. 


80         VISITING     THE     SICK  —  A     SCENE. 

He  therefore  excused  himself  after  dinner  as 
having  an  engagement  at  that  hour  ;  and,  on  leav- 
ing, said  to  Henry,  that  possibly  he  might  be  de- 
tained till  past  the  usual  time  for  the  class  to  meet ; 
in  which  case,  he  desired  him  to  take  the  charge 
of  it,  as  he  often  did  in  his  father's  absence.  Then 
addressing  himself  to  me,  "  Mr.  Williams,  1  have 
a  mile  to  walk  to  visit  a  sick  family,  and  as  it  is  a 
pleasant  afternoon,  perhaps  you  would  not  object 
to  accompanying  me." 

I  readily  assented,  and  we  were  soon  on  our 
way. 

"  The  poor  family  which  I  am  going  to  visit," 
said  Mr.  Clifford,"  is  one  that  has  seen  deep  afflic- 
tion. It  now  consists  of  a  widowed  mother  and 
six  young  children. 

"Ten  years  ago,"  continued  he,  "  Seth  Patrick 
was  a  strong  active  man  for  labor,  and  I  often  em- 
ployed him  to  perform  such  service  as  he  was  able 
to  render.  But  owing  to  the  prevailing  custom  of 
giving  a  daily  dram  to  laborers  he  soon  acquired  an 
appetite  for  spirit,  which  gradually  increased  upon 
him,  till  at  length  he  became  very  intemperate, 
and  was  generally  regarded  as  a  hopeless  subject 
for  reformation. 

"I  knew  that  he  naturally  possessed  a  good  dis- 
position, and  that  he  had  strong  natural  affection  for 
his  wife  and  children.  I  therefore  resolved, under 
providence,  to  make  an  effort  to  bring  him  back  to 
his  former  habits,  and  save  him  as  a  blessing  to 
his  family. 


VISITING    THE     SICK A     SCENE.        81 

"Accordingly  one  Sabbath  afternoon,  just  five 
years  ago  this  month,  I  walked  over  to  see  him  at 
the  same  house  to  which  we  arc  now  going.  I 
resolved  to  approach  him  in  a  kind,  aflectionate 
manner — to  avoid  every  thing  that  would  be  likely 
to  irritate,  or  to  appear  like  reproach.  I  really 
felt  for  him  as  a  man  who  had  been  led  astray,  and 
I  had  no  wish  to  conceal  from  him  that  I  did  feel 
deeply  interested  in  his  welfare. 

"  I  found  him  at  home,  and,  what  had  now  be- 
come unusual  at  that  hour  of  the  day,  he  was  per- 
fectly sober.  His  wife  had  gone  out  to  meeting, 
and  he  was  remaining  at  home  with  the  two 
youngest  children. 

"  After  a  little  conversation  I  frankly  told  him 
the  object  for  which  I  had  come  to  see  him.  I  had 
never  used  the  language  of  reproach  to  him,  and 
my  treatment  of  him  had  always  been  such  that 
he  seemed  to  regard  me  as  his  friend,  notwith- 
standing my  frequent  reproofs  for  his  conduct. 

"I  now  reminded  him  of  his  former  good  health, 
and  how  easily  and  happily  he  got  along  in  the 
world,  before  he  gave  himself  up  to  his  present 
course  of  life.  I  gradually  led  him  to  see  and  to 
acknowledge,  that  his  present  debilitated  health 
and  impoverished  condition,  were  entirely  owing 
to  the  change  which  had  taken  place  in  his  habits. 
I  told  him  plainly  if  he  continued  his  present 
course,  that  he  must  soon,  and  very  soon  too,  die 
—  die,  leaving  behind  him  the  name  and  character 


82        VISITING    THE     SICK A     SCENE. 

of  a  poor  abandoned  drunkard.  '  While  you  con- 
tinue this  course,'  said  I,  '  you  must  be  miserable 
here,  and,  O,  what  must  be  your  state  hereafter  P 
I  then  pointed  to  his  little  daughter  whom  he  was 
holding  in  his  arms,  and  said,  '  How,  Mr.  Patrick, 
can  you  think  of  leaving  such  a  beautiful,  lovely 
child  to  the  cold  charity  of  the  world — to  no  in- 
heritance but  beggary,  and  her  father's  ignominy  ?' 
I  saw  that  he  was  affected.  The  tear  started  in  his 
eye,  and  his  quivering  lip  showed  that  his  heart 
was  moved.  He  soon  recovered  and  became  self- 
possessed." 

"  Mr.  Clifford,"  said  he,  "  you  have  always 
showed  yourself  a  true  friend  to  me.  You 
have  always  treated  me  with  Christian  kindness. 
You  have  never  followed  me  with  reproaches. 
But  you  know  not  —  and  I  pray  you  may  never 
know,  the  cravings  of  a  drunkard's  appetite  —  his 
strong  and  burning  desire  —  his  conscious  degra- 
dation and  guilt  —  and  at  times,  his  awfully  de- 
sponding gloom.  All  reproaches  I  have  ever  met 
with  scorn.  All  compulsory  efforts  at  reformation 
I  have  treated  with  contempt.  You  are  the  only 
man  who  has  approached  me  in  the  spirit  of  Chris- 
tian love.  And  you  have  faithfully  discharged 
your  duty  to  one  who  is  regarded  as  an  abandoned 
man.  And  I  am  now  resolved  that  your  labor 
shall  not  be  thrown  away  upon  me.  From  this 
time  I  will  listen  to  your  advice,  follow  your  direc- 
tions, and  forever  abandon  the  use  of  rum." 


VISITING    THE     SICK  —  A     SCENE.        S3 

"  I  put  but  little  confidence  in  sudden  conversions. 
There  must  be  a  time,  however,  when  reformation 
begins,  and  it  was  not  for  me  to  say  that  this  hasty 
resolution  might  not  prove  the  beginning  of  a  new 
life.  I  was  indeed  afraid  it  might  fail,  but  I  gave 
him  encouragement,  procured  work  for  him,  and 
with  a  guardian  care  watched  over  him  and  en- 
deavored to  keep  him  out  of  temptation.  I  saw 
that  he  was  in  earnest.  He  had  made  a  good 
resolve,  and  it  was  my  duty  to  help  him  keep  it. 
And,  to  sum  up  his  story  in  a  few  words,  he  did  so. 
From  that  day  he  became  a  sober,  industrious  man 
—  was  constant  to  his  family,  retrieved  his  circum- 
stances, and  was  not  only  getting  along  well  in  life, 
but  he  afterwards  gave  evidence  of  a  more  deep  and 
inward  reformation ;  and  I  have  reason  to  hope 
was  governed  by  a  conscientious  regard  to  the 
principles  of  the  Christian  religion. 

"  But  six  weeks  ago,  by  an  imprudent  exposure 
he  took  a  severe  cold  —  a  violent  fever  soon  fol- 
lowed, and  his  disorder  was  so  rapid  that  I  saw  him 
but  once  before  his  death.  He  was  then  low,  and 
knew  that  his  case  was  critical.  I  conversed 
freely  with  him.  He  appeared  calm  and  resign- 
ed ;  and  I  have  good  reason  to  hope  that  he  died, 
not  only  an  externally  reformed  man,  but  a  hum- 
ble Christian,  leaving  a  disconsolate  wife  with  six 
small  children  to  lament  his  death. 

"  By  my  assistance  three  of  them  are  now  pro- 
vided with  good  places  ;  but  the  mother  has  the 


84         VISITING     THE     SICK A     SCENE. 

youngest  three  still  to  provide  for  by  her  own 
labor. 

"  Three  weeks  ago,  Ellen,  the  youngest  but  one, 
was  taken  very  ill,  and  has  continued  to  fail  ever 
since.  I  saw  her  the  last  Sabbath,  and  from  what 
I  have  heard  during  the  week,  I  expect  we  shall 
find  her  very  low." 

As  Mr.  Clifford  was  repeating  these  last  words, 
I  saw  the  smoke  rising  from  their  humble  cottage 
through  the  trees.  Jane,  her  older  sister,  a  little 
girl  about  nine,  came  running  in  haste  to  meet  us. 
"O,  Mr.  Clifford,"  said  she,  "  little  Ellen  is  very 
sick.  Ma  says  she  fears  she  cannot  live.  She  is 
in  great  pain  and  much  more  sick  than  she  was 
last  Sabbath.  Do  you  think  Ellen  will  die,  Mr. 
Clifford  .?" 

"  I  hope  she  will  not,  my  child,"  said  he,  taking 
hold  of  her  hand,  and  engaging  in  conversation 
with  her  to  console  her  grief. 

As  we  entered  the  cottage  Mrs.  Patrick  met  us 
at  the  door,  but  was  so  deeply  affected  with  grief 
as  to  be  unable  to  speak  ;  for  Ellen  had  just  ex- 
pired. She  attempted  to  address  Mr.  Clifford. 
"  My  child  "  —  she  said,  but  could  say  no  more, 
and  her  grief  found  vent  in  tears.  In  a  moment 
she  recovered,  and  led  us  to  the  bedside,  and  felt 
of  the  face  and  hands  of  her  child  to  see  if  she 
was  indeed  gone  —  or  whether  there  were  any 
symptoms  of  returning  life.  She  stroked  aside 
the  dark  flowing  locks  from  her  lovely  face.     Her 


VISITING     THE     SICK A     SCENE.         85 

body  was  still  warm,  but  her  pulse  had  ceased  to 
beat,  her  eye  was  closed,  for  the  spirit  had  depart- 
ed to  return  no  more. 

The  mother  was  then  too  much  under  the  first 
transports  of  grief  to  command  her  feelings.  Na- 
ture must  have  its  course,  and  Mr.  ClifTord  did  not 
for  some  time  attempt  to  offer  her  the  consolations 
of  religion. 

Two  females  of  the  neighborhood  were  called 
in,  and  Mr.  Clifford  relieved  the  mother  by  taking 
the  charge,  and  giving  necessary  directions  for  all 
that  was  to  be  done. 

By  the  time  the  corpse  was  laid  out,  the  bedding 
removed  and  the  room  ventilated,  the  mother  had 
become  more  composed,  and  we  all  went  into  the 
room  where  the  corpse  was  laid. 

After  we  were  seated,  Mr.  Clifford,  addressing 
the  afflicted  mother,  said,  "Your  child  has  indeed 
left  us.  But  she  has  gone  to  Him  who  said, '  Suf- 
fer little  children  to  come  unto  me,  for  of  such  is 
the  kingdom  of  heaven.'  I  know  that  you  must 
feel  deeply  this  separation  from  your  child.  I  too 
have  been  a  mourning  parent,  and  can  sympathize 
in  your  sorrow.  I  have  known  by  experience  the 
pangs  of  parting  with  a  first  born  child.  But  it  is 
at  such  times  as  these  that  we  feel  the  consolations 
of  religion.  Though  removed  from  your  sight,  we 
are  taught  by  Him  who  cannot  deceive,  that  she 
still  lives — that  she  lives  in  a  world  where  she 
will  be  kept  from  evil  and  from  sin.     She  is  now 


86       VISITING    THE     SICK  —  A    SCENE. 

to  be  placed  under  the  guardian  care  of  those  angels, 
who,  says  our  Lord,  '  do  always  behold  the  face  of 
my  Father.'  Fear  not  that  they  will  be  to  her  bet- 
ter than  earthly  parents  can  be.  They  will  in- 
struct her  in  true  wisdom,  and  lead  her  in  the  ways 
of  heavenly  life.  You  should  not  therefore  mourn 
for  her,  but  let  a  living  faith  in  the  great  truths  of 
the  Gospel  lift  your  soul  above  this  natural  sorrow, 
and  inspire  your  mind  with  filial  confidence  in  the 
wise  providence  of  your  heavenly  Father.  He  has 
indeed  seen  best  to  take  away  your  child.  But 
though  removed  from  your  sight,  she  still  lives 
under  his  guardian  care.  He  knows  better  than 
we  can  what  is  best,  and  we  should  endeavor  to 
be  resigned  to  his  will,  and  trust  in  the  wisdom  of 
his  providence  that  all  things  are  ordered  for  our 
good.  You  should  therefore  think  of  your  child, 
as  having  gone  to  her  heavenly  Father,  as  being 
now  instructed  by  the  angels  in  his  more  imme- 
diate presence,  in  his  house  of  many  mansions. 

"  But  let  us  now  turn  to  ourselves,  and  see  what 
lesson  this  dispensation  of  providence  is  designed 
to  teach  us.  Our  thoughts  and  affections  are  all 
prone  to  this  world  —  to  be  taken  up  and  confined 
to  the  objects  and  cares  of  this  life.  We  often  lose 
sight  of  the  great  end  of  our  being,  and  forget  our 
relation  to  the  spiritual  world.  And  we  sometimes 
require  even  what  appears  to  be  a  severe  trial,  or 
violent  shock  to  our  natural  feelings,  in  order  to 
break  the  spell,  disengage  our  thoughts  from  earth, 


VISITING     THE     SICK A     SCENE.        87 

and  open  our  minds  to  the  living  realities  of  the 
spiritual  world.  And  nothing  has  so  great  an  in- 
fluence upon  our  state,  and  tends  so  directly  to 
carry  our  thoughts  into  the  other  life,  as  the  re- 
moval of  those  friends  and  relatives,  -whom  we 
tenderly  love.  Our  affections  and  thoughts  follow 
them,  '  for  where  our  treasure  is  there  will  our 
hearts  be  also.' " 

Then  making  a  more  particular  application  to 
the  state  of  the  afflicted  mother,  he  continued, 
"  First,  your  husband  was  taken  from  you ;  and  now, 
your  darling  child  is  called  to  follow  him  into  the 
spiritual  world.  In  these  afflictions  the  hand  of 
the  Lord  appears  heavy  upon  you.  Perhaps,  your 
affections  were  too  much  bound  up  in  them,  and 
your  thoughts  too  much  confined  to  the  things  of 
this  life.  But  as  he  who  seemed  to  be  your  de- 
pendence and  support  was  first  taken,  and  as  your 
dearest  child  is  now  removed,  your  thoughts  can- 
not but  go  with  them,  and  these  objects  of  affection 
will  now  become  the  connecting  link  between  you 
and  the  world  to  which  they  are  gone.  Your 
mind  must  now  be  more  open  to  the  great  realities 
of  the  spiritual  world,  and  to  a  sense  of  your  more 
immediate  dependence  on  the  providence  of  the 
Lord.  Your  mind  will  naturally  be  anxious  and 
troubled  about  providing  for  your  own  wants  and 
the  wants  of  your  surviving  children.  But  you 
must  remember  that  the  providence  of  the  Lord 
extends  to  all  our  necessities,  that  not  a  sparrow 
6 


88        VISITING     THE     SICK A     SCENE. 

falls  to  the  ground  without  His  notice.  You  should 
therefore  be  led  to  feel  more  directly  your  de- 
pendence on  Him  —  and  to  cast  all  your  cares  and 
burdens  on  the  Lord.  For  in  all  our  afflictions, 
and  in  all  the  dealings  of  his  providence,  whether 
they  appear  prosperous  or  adverse,  he  has  con- 
stantly our  own  good  in  view  —  to  break  our  hold 
on  this  life,  and  so  far  to  carry  our  thoughts  and 
affections  into  the  world  to  come,  that  we  shall 
look  on  the  present  life  only  as  a  scene  of  prepa- 
ration for  the  next ;  —  to  subdue  our  worldly  affec- 
tions and  self-reliance,  and  to  bring  us  into  that 
state  of  filial  love  and  obedience  to  his  will,  and 
into  that  nearness  of  spirit  to  him,  that  our  under- 
standings will  always  be  opened  to  see  his  hand 
employed,  in  all  the  good  or  seeming  ill  which 
checkers  our  path  through  life." 

The  tones  of  affection,  and  the  manner,  no  less 
than  the  sentiment  of  these  remarks,  seemed  to 
have  a  tranquillizing  influence  upon  us  all.  This 
the  afflicted  mother  especially  felt.  She  appeared 
to  be  so  much  drawn  into  the  sphere  of  her  Chris- 
tian friend,  as  to  be  gradually  lifted  above  her 
afflictions.  Her  grief  subsided,  and  her  mind  be- 
came composed  and  calm.  With  a  resigned  coun- 
tenance she  drew  near  to  the  body  of  her  child, 
and  stroking  her  hand  gently  over  its  lovely  fea- 
tures, she  said,  "  Yes,  Mr.  Clifford,  this  was  a  hard 
stroke  for  my  poor  heart.  This  was  my  dearest 
child.     My  heart  was  bound  up  in  her, —  I  fear 


VISITING     THE     SICK A     SCENE.        89 

she  was  becoming  my  idol,  and  God  has  been 
compelled  to  take  her  away,  no  less  for  her  moth- 
er's good,  than  her  own.  But  I  would  not  now  re- 
call her.  I  thank  God  I  can  now  say,  '  Not  my 
will,  but  thine  be  done.'  " 

Her  mind  was  so  much  affected  by  what  had 
been  said,  that  she  seemed  to  be  pervaded  by  a 
quiet  sphere  of  resignation  to  the  divine  will,  and 
a  state  of  inward  settled  peace.  And  the  expres- 
sion on  her  countenance  was  that  of  a  subdued, 
though  a  resigned  and  a  confiding  spirit.  As  we 
left  this  humble  cottage,  I  was  more  deeply  im- 
pressed than  ever  before  whh  the  power  of  Chris- 
tian truth,  when  administered  in  love,  to  find  its 
way  to  the  human  heart  —  to  reform  vice  —  to 
give  support  and  consolation  in  affliction  —  and 
even  to  lift  the  mind  above  the  influence  of  the 
deepest  sorrow,  by  inspiring  the  soul  with  a  filial 
confidence,  and  a  settled  trust  in  the  overruling 
wisdom  and  goodness  of  our  allwise  and  merciful 
Father. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE    BIBLE    CLASS. 

"  The  entrance  of  Thy  Word  giveth  Light; 
It  giveth  understanding  to  the  simple." 

As  Mr.  Clifford  had  anticipated,  we  did  not  re- 
turn in  season  to  meet  his  Bible-class  at  the  ap- 
pointed hour.  But  in  accordance  with  his  request 
Henry  had  taken  the  charge  of  it ;  and,  at  the  time 
of  our  return,  he  was  engaged  in  free  conversation 
with  the  older  members  of  the  class  endeavoring 
to  satisfy  some  inquiries  on  the  subject  of  original 
sin,  which  had  arisen  out  of  a  passage  in  the  18th 
chapter  of  Ezekiel,  the  subject  of  their  lesson  the 
same  afternoon. 

We  went  directly  into  the  room,  in  which  about 
twenty  children  and  youth  from  the  families  in  the 
neighborhood  were  assembled.  They  were  all 
seated,  each  with  a  Reference  Bible  in  his  hand, 
at  a  convenient  distance  around  a  table  in  the 
centre  of  the  room,  on  which  lay  a  Commentary,  a 
large  Dictionary  of  the  Bible,  and  such  other  books 
of  reference,  as  well  as  maps,  as  would  help  them 
to  a  better  understanding  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures. 


THE     BIBLE     CLASS.  91 

Mr.  Clifford  adopted  the  following  mode  of  in- 
struction. He  gave  out  a  certain  portion  of  Scrip- 
ture, which  all  were  expected  to  study  attentively  ; 
and  he  usually  commenced  the  exercise  by  hear- 
ing the  younger  members  of  the  class,  repeat  the 
passage  from  memory,  —  being  very  attentive  that 
they  repeated  the  very  words  as  they  stand  in  the 
Bible.  He  then  read  it  over  very  carefully  himself, 
and  in  a  familiar  manner  endeavored  to  explain  it 
as  he  went  along  —  hearing  and  answering  such 
questions  as  naturally  arose  out  of  the  subject. 

He  thought  that  children  and  youth  should  early 
be  taught  to  make  a  distinction  between  the  Sa- 
cred Scriptures  and  all  other  books  —  to  look  upon 
and  revere  them  as  the  Word  of  God.  He  was 
therefore  particular  to  cultivate  the  habit  of  first 
committing  them  to  memory  just  as  they  read.  It 
was  by  no  means  a  blind  reverence  which  he 
aimed  to  cherish  for  the  sacred  volume  ;  but  after 
they  had  committed  the  portion  assigned  for  the 
lesson  accurately  to  memory,  he  endeavored  to  ex- 
ercise their  understandings  upon  it.  He  questioned 
them  severally  to  see  what  ideas  they  had  formed 
of  it.  He  tried  to  awaken  and  draw  out  their  own 
reflections.  And  when  they  had  become  deeply 
interested,  and  he  had  gained  their  whole  attention, 
he  seized  the  time  to  give  them  such  plain,  practi- 
cal instruction  as  was  suggested  by  the  subject, 
and  as  they  seemed  to  require.  And  his  remarks 
not  only  often  took  a  strong  hold  of  their  feelings. 


92 


THE     BIBLE     CLASS 


but  they  were  calculated  to  give  a  strong  bias  to 
their  future  characters. 

He  understood  hunnan  nature  too  well  to  think 
it  sufficient,  that  a  child  should  be  merely  taught  to 
understand  a  subject  intellectually.  And  though 
he  did  not  neglect  to  instruct  and  inform  the  un- 
derstanding, he  aimed  at  more  than  merely  to  do 
this  —  he  endeavored  to  gain  their  affections,  and 
interest  their  feelings  in  the  subject  —  to  correct 
the  moral  habits  and  repress  the  first  outward  man- 
ifestation of  their  evil  propensities  and  passions. 
This  often  led  him  to  allude  to  facts  which  had 
come  to  his  knowledge  —  to  point  out  defects  in 
their  conduct  and  habits  —  and  in  various  ways 
aim  at  their  moral  improvement. 

No  person  had  more  implicit  confidence  in  the 
Sacred  Scriptures,  when  studied  with  a  docile 
spirit,  to  make  men  wise  unto  salvation.  And  as 
it  was  his  own  happiness  to  study  and  practise 
them,  so  it  was  his  delight  to  impart  a  knowledge 
of  them  to  the  rising  generation. 

He  lived  before  the  Sabbath  school  had  formed 
such  an  era  in  the  Christian  Church,  but  he  had 
already  anticipated  this  very  important  institution 
by  the  manner  in  which  he  devoted  himself  to  the 
religious  instruction  of  his  own  children,  and  those 
of  his  neighbors,  who  were  allowed  to  receive  his 
instructions. 

His  views  of  the  Sabbath,  as  we  have  already 
seen,  were  somewhat    peculiar    to    himself.     He 


THE     BIBLE     CLASS.  93 

never  excused  himself  or  any  member  of  his 
family  from  attending  public  worship  on  Sabbath 
morning,  except  for  the  strongest  reasons.  But  he 
did  not  usually  attend  a  second  meeting  for  public 
worship  on  the  same  day.  The  afternoon  he 
thought  should  be  devoted  to  the  moral  and  reli- 
gious instruction  of  his  children,  and  those  commit- 
ted to  his  care.  His  views  on  this  subject  were 
enlarged  and  extensive.  He  longed  to  see  the 
time  arrive  when  the  whole  congregation  should 
form  one  great,  well  organized  Sabbath  school, 
over  which  the  pastor  should  preside. 

His  plan  was  something  like  this :  that  the 
whole  congregation  should  be  formed  into  separate 
divisions,  and  that  each  division  should  be  under 
the  instruction  of  a  separate  teacher.  These  divi- 
sions might  all  meet  at  the  same  time  in  the  after- 
noon, either  in  the  same  place,  or  in  different 
places  as  most  convenient.  But  an  hour  or  two 
before  the  general  divisions  met  under  their  respec- 
tive teachers,  the  teachers  themselves  should  meet 
and  form  a  separate  class,  which  should  be  under 
the  immediate  charge  of  the  pastor  himself.  And 
the  pastor  ought  to  look  upon  and  regard  this  as 
one  of  the  most  important  duties  of  his  office.  He 
might  then  direct,  and,  through  them  as  mediums, 
give  the  same  course  of  instruction  to  all  his  con- 
gregation, be  made  acquainted  with  their  difficul- 
ties, and  have  opportunity  to  answer  all  inquiries, 
without  being  obliged  to  repeat  them  to  each  indi- 


94  THE     BIBLE     CLASS. 

vidual  separately.  The  course  of  instruction  and 
the  books  selected  should  be  such  as  would  give 
unity  and  method  to  the  whole,  while,  at  the 
same  time,  they  should  be  adapted  to  the  different 
states  and  capacities  of  all  ages.  In  this  manner 
the  Scriptures  might  be  studied  and  explained,  and 
the  great  doctrines  contained  in  them  systemati- 
cally taught  and  illustrated  every  Sabbath,  in  a 
manner  calculated  to  awaken  interest  and  elicit 
inquiry  so  as  to  be  rationally  understood. 

The  lamentable  fact  that  almost  all  men  are 
deplorably  ignorant  of  religious  truth,  had  not 
escaped  the  attention  of  a  mind  so  observing  as 
that  of  Mr.  Clifford.  Even  the  better  class  of  so- 
ciety, and  the  members  of  the  Church,  have  but 
little  rational  knowledge  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures, 
and  read  them  with  a  blind  reverence  rather  than 
in  the  spirit  of  free  inquiry  —  with  a  desire  to  com- 
prehend, and  in  order  to  practise  the  doctrines 
they  contain.  And  but  few  have  interest  enough 
to  inquire  even  into  the  dogmas  and  tenets  of  their 
own  respective  sects.  Consequently  their  preju- 
dices and  bigotry  (which  are  always  in  proportion 
to  their  ignorance)  are  correspondingly  great. 
While  such  is  the  condition  even  of  those  most  in- 
terested in  the  subject  of  religion,  the  studies  and 
labors  of  a  truly  enlightened  and  good  pastor,  if 
they  had  one,  would  be  lost  on  the  greater  part  of 
the  congregation.  Very  few  are  prepared  to  de- 
sire or  to  receive  elevated  spiritual  instruction  from 


THE     BIBLE     CLASS.  95 

him.  Still  fewer  are  qualified  to  comprehend  and 
follow  his  reasoning.  And  whenever  he  attempts 
to  awaken  their  interest  and  fix  their  attention,  he 
can  do  it  only  by  descending  to  their  level,  in  su- 
perficial and  empty  declamation,  by  alarming  their 
fears,  or  making  pathetic  appeals  to  their  passions. 

Illiberal  prejudices  and  bigotry,  we  know,  are 
the  inevitable  consequence  of  such  a  state  of  igno- 
rance among  the  people.  Each  sect  or  denomina- 
tion, therefore,  looks  upon  itself  as  the  only  pecu- 
liar people  of  God  —  cantoned  out  and  chosen  as 
the  only  fit  subjects  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
And  they  but  too  often  manifest  their  zeal  and 
interest  for  religion,  more  by  misrepresenting  and 
abusing  the  sentiments  and  characters  of  each 
other,  than  by  a  life  governed  by  the  principles  of 
the  gospel. 

Now  Mr.  Clifl^Drd  thought  the  only  effectual 
way  in  which  a  change  can  be  effected,  was  by 
enlightening  the  great  mass  of  the  people  in  re- 
ligious truth.  They  must  be  induced  to  read  and 
inquire  for  themselves.  They  must  be  taught  to 
think,  and,  with  a  liberal  spirit  of  free  inquiry, 
look  into,  examine,  and  compare  the  sentiments  of 
different  denominations. 

But  he  saw  that  it  was  hopeless  to  attempt  to 
change  the  character  of  men  who  had  grown  up 
in  ignorance  and  bigotry,  and  who  had  become 
strongly  wedded  to  sectarian  sentiments  and 
opinions  —  that  they  would  neither  be  taught  by 


96  THE     BIBLE     CLASS. 

another,  nor  use  their  own  reason  to  reflect  for 
themselves.  The  only  way,  therefore,  was  to  turn 
to  the  rising  generation,  and  endeavor  to  implant 
the  seeds  of  truth  in  the  susceptible  mind  of  youth, 
and  early  give  them  such  a  direction  as  would  lead 
to  free  inquiry  and  impartial  examination  for  them- 
selves. 

And  nothing,  he  thought,  was  so  directly  calcu- 
lated to  remove  those  evils,  as  educating  and  bring- 
ing up  the  children  of  all  denominations  in  such  a 
way  as  would  give  them  a  familiar  acquaintance 
with  the  Bible — thus  bringing  them  back  to  the 
elements  of  all  true  faith  —  to  that  which  all 
Protestant  Christians,  however  widely  they  differ, 
acknowledge  as  the  only  foundation  of  their  doc- 
trines. The  work  he  knew  was  a  great  work,  and 
that  it  could  be  but  very  gradually  accomplished. 
Several  generations  might  pass  away  before  the 
end  would  be  fully  attained.  But  this  course  he 
saw,  must  in  time  undermine  and  break  up  all 
these  narrow  contracted  views;  and,  at  length, 
bring  all,  who  were  interested  in  knowing  the 
truth,  together  on  the  broad  plane  of  free  inquiry, 
and  give  them  a  liberal  and  charitable  spirit  as 
well  as  a  rational  and  enlightened  faith. 

And  even  now  are  we  already  beginning  to  see 
the  truth  of  these  expectations  realized.  Much  in- 
deed remains  to  be  done.  But  a  great  revolution, 
we  can  see,  is  already  in  progress.  How  changed, 
both  in  spirit  and  in  faith,  is  the  Christian  church, 


THE     BIBLE     CLASS.  97 

from  its  condition  fifty  years  ago  !  There  is  a  more 
enlightened  spirit  of  free  inquiry.  The  peculiar 
tenets  and  dogmas  of  the  several  sects  do  not  now 
interpose  so  high  and  so  impassable  barriers  to  as- 
sociation and  intercourse  as  formerly.  Indeed,  the 
spirit  of  free  inquiry,  and  that  greater  enlargement 
of  reason,  which  have  been  derived  from  an  in- 
creased attention  to  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  are  al- 
ready turned  to  a  rational  examination  and  free 
discussion  of  the  long  established  dogmas  and 
tenets  of  the  several  sects.  They  are  now  being 
canvassed,  and  brought  forth  at  the  J^ar  of  Divine 
Truth,  and  allowed  to  stand  or  fall,  as  they  can 
bear  the  daylight  which  shines  from  a  rational 
understanding  of  the  Word  of  God. 

The  unsettled  and  changing  state  of  the  Church 
is  now  a  common  subject  of  wonder  and  remark. 
It  sometimes  appears  as  if  it  were  approaching  an 
entire  dissolution.  Old  levels  seem  to  be  heaving 
up  and  breaking  —  deep  and  radical  changes  seem 
to  be  taking  place.  But  the  real  Church  is  in  no 
danger  amid  all  these  changes  and  commotions. 
It  is  only  casting  off  the  chains  and  shackles  of  its 
past  bondage.  The  Church  is  indeed  being  revo- 
lutionized.  Its  former  external  and  sectarian  cha- 
racter is  passing  away.  It  begins  to  feel  renewed 
life  ;  —  the  silent  power  of  truth,  which  comes  from 
a  more  enlightened  understanding  of  the  Sacred 
Scriptures,  is  the  vital  principle  within  —  causing 
such  an  inward  growth  and  expansion  of  the  mind, 


98  THE     BIBLE     CLASS. 

that  it  can  no  longer  be  held  in  its  past  states  of 
prejudice  and  bondage.  Indeed,  a  new  centre  is 
already  being  formed,  to  which  all  who  have  the 
spirit  of  free  inquiry  and  love  for  the  truth,  are 
beginning  to  converge.  And  in  the  midst  of  that 
centre,  the  Sacred  Scriptures  are  enthroned  as  the 
medium  of  all  truth  to  the  Church,  as  well  as  the 
medium  of  its  vitality  and  power. 

But  whence  this  change,  and  this  changing 
state  in  the  condition  of  the  Church  ?  It  is  now 
eighty  years,  as  we  are  taught,  since  that  remark- 
able event  transpired  in  the  spiritual  world,  which 
was  foretold  in  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  and  which  is 
there  spoken  of  as  the  "  consummation  of  the  age ;" 
—  (the  original  terms  being  erroneously  translated 
to  signify  "  the  end  of  the  world.'''')  At  that  time 
a  crisis  was  formed  in  the  first  dispensation  of  the 
Christian  Church.  A  judgment  then  took  place, 
by  which  the  world  of  spirits  was  restored  to  a 
better  state  of  order,  and  so  arranged  as  to  become 
the  medium  of  higher  and  better  influences  to  the 
Church  on  earth.  This  was  the  beginning  of  a 
new  era  in  the  Church,  and  in  the  world.  From 
this  time  renewed  life  and  power  has  been  seen 
and  felt  in  the  human  mind.  The  sun  of  the  coming 
day  has  not  yet  risen  on  the  world,  yet  its  dawning 
light  begins  to  appear,  and  the  nameless  influences 
of  approaching  morning  already  begin  to  awaken 
the  Church  from  the  slumbers  of  the  past,  ena- 
ble it  to  see  the  truth  in  the  early  twilight,  and 


THE     BIBLE     CLASS.  99 

inspire  the  Church  with  a  disposition  to  arise  and 
obey  it. 

At  the  same  time  also  the  Divine  Word —  "  the 
Book"  which  was  seen  by  John  in  his  vision  "  in 
the  right  hand  of  Him  that  sat  on  the  throne,  which 
was  written  wilhin^  and  on  the  hack  side.,  and  seal- 
ed with  seven  seals,"  began  to  be  opened.  For 
through  Emanuel  Swedenborg,  that  distinguished 
servant  of  the  Lord,  the  true  principles  were  then 
first  taught  by  which  the  internal  sense  of  the  Word, 
that  which  is  signified  by  what  was  "  icritten  tcith- 
i?^,"  can  be  clearly  seen  so  that  the  spiritual  doc- 
trines of  the  Christian  Church  can  be  now  ration- 
ally  understood  and  confirmed  by  an  enlightened 
reason,  and  a  true  understanding  of  the  Word  of 
God. 

Mr.  ClifTord  was  one  among  those  individuals  in 
different  countries  into  whose  hands  some  of  the 
works  of  that  enlightened  author  early  happened 
to  fall.  Though  soon  convinced  of  their  truth, 
yet  thinking  the  world  not  prepared  to  receive  and 
acknowledge  the  principles  taught  in  them  except 
by  gradual  and  almost  imperceptible  degrees,  like 
Oberlin,he  read  and  studied  them  in  private,  form- 
ed from  them  his  religious  faith  and  his  practical 
views  of  Christian  life,  and  endeavored  to  exem- 
plify them  in  his  own  character.  And,  like  that 
distinguished  apostle  of  the  Lord,  whenever  oppor- 
tunity ofTered,  it  was  his  delight  as  well  as  his 
duty,  to  bring  them   forth  in  a  manner  suited  to 


100  THE     BIBLE     CLASS. 

the  wants  and  the  degree  of  preparation  seen  in 
his  religious  friends  and  associates. 

He  saw  clearly  that  a  very  great  change  must 
of  necessity  take  place,  before  the  world  would 
come  into  a  state  to  receive  these  doctrines.  Still, 
though  surrounded  by  comparative  darkness  and 
disorder,  he  nevertheless  saw  and  felt  them  to  be 
true.  And  though  their  progress  must  be  gradual 
and  slow,  yet  he  had  an  unwavering  faith  that  the 
time  would  eventually  come,  when  the  truth  itself 
would  be  acknowledged  and  established  in  the 
Church,  —  when  the  influences  through  the  Church 
of  the  New  Jerusalem  in  the  heavens,  would  de- 
scend, and  be  so  powerfully  and  so  orderly  trans- 
mitted to  the  Church  on  the  earth,  that  the  time 
would  be  fulfilled,  "  when  the  tabernacle  of  God 
would  be  with  men,  and  they  would  become  his 
people,  and  God  himself  would  be  with  them  — 
their  God." 


CHAPTER  X. 

WALK    AND    COiNVEKSATION    IN    THE    GARDEN. 

"  Blest  be  the  Church,  that,  watching  o'er  the  needs 
Of  infancy,  provides  a  timely  shower, 
Whose  virtue  changes  to  a  Christian  flower 
A  growth  from  sinfuJ  Nature's  bed  of  weeds  !  " 

jyordsworth. 

Adjoining  Mr.  Clifford's  house  was  a  spacious 
garden,  regularly  laid  out  and  well  stocked  with 
trees.  The  walks  were  wide,  and  bordered  with 
shrubbery  and  flowers.  At  the  remote  end  of  the 
large  central  walk  was  an  open,  circular  arbor, 
furnished  with  seats,  and  well  protected  from  the 
rays  of  the  sun  by  the  luxuriant  foliage  of  a  sweet- 
scented  grape  vine. 

After  finishing  his  instructions  on  Sabbath  after- 
noon, Mr.  Clifford  often  walked  in  the  garden  with 
his  wife  and  children  an  hour  before  tea.  And 
they  were  sometimes  joined  by  such  members  of 
the  class  as  were  on  terms  of  intimacy  with  his 
own  children. 

"  It  is  a  very  pleasant  day,  papa,"  said  little 
Charles,  taking  hold  of  his  father's  hand  and  pull- 
ing him  towards  the  door  after  Henry  had  finished 


102   CONVERSATION  IN  THE  GARDEN. 

his  instructions,  "  and  I  hope  we  shall  now  have  a 
good  walk  in  the  garden."  Accordingly  after  a 
few  minutes,  the  whole  family  with  their  guests, 
and  several  members  of  the  class,  making  up  quite 
a  large  company,  were  seen  walking  leisurely  in 
the  alleys  of  the  garden  in  scattered  groups,  some 
engaged  in  conversation  on  the  subject  of  the 
lesson,  others  on  the  plants  and  flowers  of  the 
season,  or  on  other  topics  suggested  by  what  was 
before  them. 

After  a  while  they  all  met,  as  by  accident,  at 
the  arbor,  where  Mr.  Clifford  with  his  wife  and 
Mrs.  Livingston  were  already  seated ;  Mr.  Clifford 
was  engaged  in  conversation,  endeavoring  to  ex- 
plain to  Mrs.  Livingston  the  doctrine  of  original 
sin,  which  had  just  been  the  subject  of  remark  be- 
fore the  class. 

"  As  the  young  folks  have  now  all  come  to  join 
us,"  said  Mrs.  Livingston,  "  I  wish  you  would  begin 
the  subject  anew,  for  I  am  already  much  enlight- 
ened by  your  remarks  on  a  doctrine  which  it  has 
always  been  very  difficult  for  me  to  understand." 

"  I  was  just  saying,"  said  Mr.  Clifford,  address- 
ing himself  to  Henry,  "  that  a  garden  affords  a 
very  happy  figurative  illustration  of  the  subject 
which  you  were  attempting  to  explain  to  the  class 
as  I  returned." 

"  On  this  point  of  doctrine,"  said  Mrs.  Livings- 
ton, "  much  has  been  written.  I  have  read  much, 
but  have  never  met  with  a  clear  and  satisfactory 
explanation." 


CONVERSATION    IN    THE     GARDEN.      103 

"  But  what  do  you  understand  the  doctrine  of 
original  sin  to  be,  as  it  is  taught  by  those  w.ho  pro- 
fess to  believe  in  it  ?  "  inquired  Mr.  Clifford. 

"  That  I  may  not  misrepresent  their  belief,  I  will 
answer  in  their  own  language  —  that  which  is 
adopted  as  the  confession  of  faith  for  the  orthodox 
churches  in  this  country,"  replied  Mrs.  Livings- 
ton, "  and  which  my  good  father  required  me  in 
early  life  to  commit  to  memory." 

"  1.  God  having  made  a  covenant  of  works  and  life  there- 
upon, with  our  first  parents,  and  all  their  posterity  in  them, 
they  being  seduced  by  the  subtlety  and  temptation  of  Satan, 
did  wilfully  transgress  the  law  of  their  creation,  and  break 
the  covenant  by  eating  the  forbidden  fruit. 

"2.  By  this  sin  they,  and  we  in  them,  fell  from  original 
righteousness  and  communion  with  God,  and  so  became 
dead  in  sin,  and  wholly  defiled  in  all  the  faculties  and  parts 
of  soul  and  body. 

"  3.  They  being  the  root,  and  by  God's  appointment  stand- 
ing in  the  room  and  stead  of  all  mankind,  the  guilt  of  this 
sin  is  imputed,  and  corrupted  nature  conveyed  to  all  their 
posterity  descending  from  them  by  ordinary  generation. 

<'6.  Every  sin,  both  original  and  actual,  being  a  trans- 
gression of  the  righteous  law  of  God,  and  contrary  there- 
unto, doth  in  its  own  nature  bring  guilt  upon  the  sinner, 
whereby  he  is  bound  over  to  the  wrath  of  God,  and  curse 
of  the  law,  and  so  made  subject  to  death,  with  all  miseries, 
spiritual,  temporal  and  eternal."* 

"It  is  indeed  but  the  part  of  Christian  charity  to 
treat  with  forbearance  the  characters  of  those  who 
differ   from    us    in    faith,"    replied    Mr.  Clifford. 

*  Ratio  Disciplinae.  Confession  of  Faith,  chap.  6. 

7 


104  CONVERSATION  IN  THE  GARDEN. 

"  But  what  moral  qualities  do  those  impute  to  God 
who  believe,  that  by  his  appointment  our  first 
parents  stood  in  the  room  and  stead  of  all  man- 
kind^ and  that  the  guilt  of  their  sin  is  imputed  to 
their  unborn  posteriti/.  Such  a  doctrine  appears 
too  absurd  to  reason,  and  too  shocking  to  moral 
sense  to  require  a  serious  refutation." 

"  There  will  always  be  confusion  on  this  sub- 
ject," continued  Mr.  Clifford,  "  until  we  make  a 
well  defined  distinction  between  actual  sin,  and 
that  original,  or  rsxiher  hereditary  depravity,  which 
leads  to  sin." 

"  Sin  is  a  free  and  wilful  violation  of  a  law 
known  as  the  rule  of  duty.  It  is  impossible  there- 
fore that  a  child  should  incur  the  guilt  of  sin,  until 
he  is  capable  of  knowing  the  law  and  perceiving 
the  distinction  between  right  and  wrong  ;  till  then, 
he  is  not  a  moral  agents 

"This  appears  very  clear,"  said  Mrs.  Livings- 
ton. "  But  is  there  no  other  original  sin  than  the 
first  sin  of  each  wilful  transgressor  of  the  known 
law  of  God.?" 

"  There  is  no  other  original  sin  and  nothing  for 
the  possession  of  which  a  child  is  in  the  least  de- 
gree guilty,  or  liable  to  punishment,"  replied  Mr. 
Clifford.  "  But  mark  well  the  distinction  between 
sin  and  that  hereditary  depravity  in  our  nature 
which  leads  to  sin.  This  is  the  subject  I  was  go- 
ing to  illustrate." 

"  Before   proceeding  to   the    illustration,"  said 


CONVERSATION     IN     THE     GARDEN.       105 

Mrs.  Livingston,  "  I  beg  you  would  define  more 
definitely  the  meaning  of  hereditary  depravity. '''' 

"  By  human  depravity,'^''  replied  Mr.  Clifford,  "  I 
mean  that  disordered  state  of  man,  by  which  he  is 
inclined  to  evil  rather  than  good.  By  hereditary 
depravity,  I  mean  that  disorder  which  is  trans- 
mitted from  parent  to  child,  in  consequence  of 
which  the  child  is  inclined  to  evil,  but  for  the  pos- 
session of  which  by  inheritance,  he  is  not  in  the 
least  degree  ^m'Z^?/.  It  is  his  calamity  —  not  his 
crime.  That  which  tends  to  palliate  rather  than 
increase  the  guilt  of  actual  sin. 

*'  Every  man  does  practically  believe  in  the 
doctrine  of  the  hereditary  transmission  of  moral 
dispositions  and  affections,  as  well  as  in  intellec- 
tual and  physical  qualities — or  that  the  moral 
state  and  character  of  the  child  are  affected  either 
for  good  or  evil  by  that  of  his  parents  previous  to 
his  birth.  If  they  were  in  a  state  of  purity  and 
order,  the  child  would  have  no  hereditary  bias  to 
evil.  The  more  entirely  and  deeply  they  are  de- 
praved, correspondingly  strong  do  we  expect  to 
find  the  bias  to  evil  in  the  child.  Education  and 
moral  influences  we  know  may  do  much  to  coun- 
teract or  qualify  the  hereditary  dispositions  and 
character  of  the  child,  but  still,  notwithstanding 
there  may  be  some  apparent  exceptions,  this  is  the 
practical  belief  of  all  men.  A  belief  which  in- 
fluences all  rational  men  in  forming  every  intimate 
connection  of  life. 


106      CONVERSATION     IN    THE     GARDEN,- 

"  Now  let  US  take  the  state  of  the  ground,  whicb 
in  the  spring  of  the  year  is  to  be  formed  into  a 
garden,  to  represent  the  hereditary  state  of  a  child 
at  birth.  If  descended  from  parents  and  ancestors- 
who  for  many  generations  have  been  uniformly 
depraved  and  irreligious,  he  will  of  consequence 
inherit  bad  dispositions  —  or  strong  inclinations 
and  tendencies  to  evil.  His  state  will  be  compara- 
tively like  a  soil  which  for  many  successive  years 
has  been  neglected,  till  it  is  barren,  or  filled  only 
with  noxious  weeds.  If,  on  the  contrary,  the  child 
is  born  of  virtuous  and  religious  parents,  who  have 
descended  through  many  generations  from  ances- 
tors of  a  similar  character,  he  will  possess  by  in- 
heritance a  corresponding  state  or  similar  disposi- 
tions. The  original  stamina  of  his  mind,  will  be 
comparatively  like  a  soil  that  for  several  succes- 
sive years,  has  been  well  cultivated  and  enriched ; 
and  in  which  no  weeds  have  been  suffered  to  ripen 
and  deposit  their  seeds.  Thus  the  condition  of  the 
soil  from  which  you  attempt  to  form  a  garden  in 
the  spring  of  the  year,  will  happily  illustrate  by 
analogy  the  original  state  and  character  of  the 
child  at  birth. 

The  gardener  in  the  spring  first  prepares  the 
soil,  and  then  plants  the  seeds  of  those  fruits,  plants 
and  flowers  he  wishes  to  cultivate.  If  the  soil  is 
then  rugged  and  barren,  or  covered  with  thorns 
and  briars,  it  first  requires  much  labor  to  subdue 
and  prepare  it  for  the  reception  of  the  seeds  which 


CONVERSATION     IN     THE     GARDEN.       107 

he  desires  to  plant.  But  if  the  soil  has  been  well 
subdued,  and  under  good  cultivation  for  a  succes- 
sion of  years,  comparatively  easy  will  be  the  task 
to  prepare  it.  So,  comparatively,  it  is  with  the 
original  state  of  the  child.  His  preparation  to  re- 
ceive instruction  —  to  have  the  seeds  of  truth  im- 
planted in  his  mind,  will  be  greatly  influenced  by 
the  state  and  character  of  his  parents  and  ances- 
tors. If  for  a  succession  of  ages  the  seeds  of  error 
only  have  been  allowed  to  take  root  in  the  mind, 
and  bear  the  fruits  of  actual  sin,  the  offspring  will 
come  into  the  world  with  a  nature  hereditarily  still 
more  corrupt.  And  ihe  peculiar  evils  which  have 
prevailed  in  his  parents  and  progenitors,  will  be 
those  to  which  he  is  naturally  most  inclined.  But 
if  it  shall  have  been  their  effort  to  subdue  their 
hereditary  evils,  and,  from  a  religious  principle,  to 
bring  their  lives  into  a  state  of  conformity  to  the 
divine  laws  of  order,  then  will  there  be  a  corres- 
ponding susceptibility  in  the  mind  of  their  off- 
spring to  receive  instruction,  and  to  be  brought  into 
a  state  of  obedience  to  the  truth. 

"  By  this  illustration,  however,  let  me  not  be 
understood  as  teaching  that  hereditary  evil  even  in 
the  best  of  children,  is  qnqv  wliolly  subdued,  so  that 
the  seeds  of  truth  are  of  spontaneous  growth.  I  am 
speaking  now  only  comparatively.  All  possess  a 
nature  hereditarily  depraved,  but  depraved  in  dif- 
ferent degrees.  The  life  —  the  ruling  love  of  the 
parent,  is  recommenced  in  the  child,  and  unless 


108      CONVERSATION    IN     THE     GARDEN, 

the  original  state  and  bias  of  his  mind  should  be 
changed  or  modified  by  education,  he  would  natu- 
rally grow  up  with  a  character  similar  to  that  of 
his  parents.  But  enough,  perhaps,  has  been  said 
to  illustrate  what  is  meant  by  hereditary  depravity ^ 
as  distinguished  from  actual  sin. 

"  When  the  doil  is  subdued  and  fitted  for  the  re- 
ception of  the  seed,the  gardener  plants  the  garden, 
and  leaves  his  work  to  the  genial  influences  of  the 
sun,  and  the  refreshing  showers  of  the  season.  But 
the  same  influences  which  cause  the  seeds  planted 
with  the  utmost  care,  to  swell,  germinate,  and  shoot 
forth  a  tender  blade,  are  at  the  same  time  operating 
to  cause  the  latent  spontaneous  weeds  to  spring  up 
and  grow.  Many  kinds  of  weeds  appear  sooner 
than  the  seeds  which  are  planted,  and  they  grow 
with  rank  luxuriance  —  even  without  care.  In- 
deed, if  suffered  to  remain,  they  soon  choak  and 
destroy  the  tender  plant  at  its  first  appearing.  The 
gardener  must  early  eradicate  those  which  first 
appear,  or  all  his  future  labors  will  be  useless. 
Nor  is  it  enough  to  do  this  once.  Often,  and  re- 
peatedly, must  it  be  done.  No  sooner  does  he 
eradicate  and  destroy  one  kind  of  weeds,  than  he 
finds  others  beginning  to  appear.  So  that  he  must 
watch  with  constant  vigilance,  and  toil  without 
remission  during  the  whole  season. 

"  Just  so  it  is  with  the  religious  education  of 
your  child.  The  instruction  —  the  seeds  of  truth 
which  you  early  implant  in  his  mind,  are  from  the 


CONVERSATION     IN     THE     GARDEN.       109 

first  in  danger  of  being  choaked  and  overpowered 
by  hereditary  evils,  by  the  seeds  of  depravity  and 
error,  which  from  the  first,  and  continually  during 
the  whole  period  of  childhood  and  youth,  must  be 
eradicated  and  kept  in  subjection." 

"  But,"  inquired  Mrs.  Livingston,  "  are  not  the 
seeds  of  truth  and  virtue  hereditary  —  or  inherent 
in  the  native  state  of  the  child,  as  well  as  the  seeds 
of  error  and  vice  .?" 

"  You  see,"  replied  Mr.  Clifford,  "  the  present 
state  of  the  ground  within  my  enclosures.  It  has 
been  for  some  years  my  continual  effort  to  culti- 
vate and  dress  my  garden  with  the  utmost  care. 
But  still  I  find,  notwithstanding  all  my  efforts  and 
vigilance,  that  spontaneous  weeds,  from  seeds 
which  either  did  not  come  up  the  preceding  year, 
or  else  were  brought  from  some  neighboring  field, 
appear  every  spring  and  require  renewed  atten- 
tion. Though  my  own  garden  is  now  as  you  see 
in  its  present  flourishing  state  under  my  renewed 
culture  the  present  season,  just  observe  on  the 
other  side  of  the  street  the  condition  of  my  neigh- 
bor's, who  is  now  absent  from  home,  and  who  has 
suffered  his  garden  to  remain  untilled  this  present 
year.  In  the  early  spring  that  soil  was  in  the 
same  state  of  preparation  as  my  own,  but  now  you 
see  spontaneous  weeds  growing  up  in  rank  luxu- 
riance, but  only  here  and  there  are  a  few  sickly 
plants  and  flowers  among  them  that  sprans;  from 
seeds  deposited  in  the  soil  last  year,  but  which  are 


110      CONVERSATION     IN     THE     GARDEN. 

not  SO  well  adapted  to  it  as  to  exclude  the  growth 
of  spontaneous  weeds. 

"  Whether  it  will  ever  be  that  the  plants  and 
flowers  which  alone  are  good  for  food,  and  pleasant 
to  the  sight,  and  which  it  is  our  effort  to  cultivate, 
will  be  spontaneous,  and  not  require  to  be  planted 
anew  every  season,  and  then  protected  from  the 
more  luxuriant  growth  of  native  weeds,  may  be  a 
matter  of  mere  speculative  curiosity.  But  as  the 
ground  was  cursed  so  as  to  bear  thorns  and  briars 
in  consequence  of  man's  disordered  and  sinful 
state,  so  we  are  taught  to  hope  that  as  he  shall 
gradually  return  to  a  state  of  perfect  order  and 
purity,  '  that  the  wilderness  will  again  be  made 
like  Eden,  and  the  desert  like  the  garden  of  the 
Lord.'  But  it  does  not  appear  sufficiently  plain 
to  teach  with  confidence,  whether  in  that  primeval 
state  of  order  all  was  spontaneous,  and  sprung  from 
the  soil  without  planting  and  culture,  or  whether  it 
was  a  part  of  man's  duty  included  in  the  divine 
command,  to  '  keep  the  garden  and  to  dress  it,'*  to 
plant  as  well  as  to  protect  and  dress  the  garden. 

"  But  dropping  the  figure  to  reply  directly  to 
your  question,  it  appears  that  the  hereditary  state 
of  the  child  as  affected  by  the  regenerate  state  of 
his  parents,  consists  in  a  hetter  adaptation  to  re- 
ceive instruction  —  to  be  rightly  affected  by  the 
truth  which  he  is  taught,  rather  than  by  any  spon- 
taneous or  instinctive  perception  of  it,  without  its 
being  first  implanted  by  instruction.     Indeed,  k 


CONVERSATION     IN     THE     GARDEN.       Ill 

seems  to  be  the  order  of  Divine  Providence  that 
the  child  should  be  taught  everything:  like  ani- 
mals of  instinct  he  is  not  born  into  the  science  of 
his  affections,  or  into  knowledge  of  any  thing. 
And  though  he  were  not  hereditarily  depraved, 
still  it  does  not  appear  that  he  would  have  an  in- 
tuitive, or  an  instinctive  perception  of  the  truth  — 
only  that  he  would  be  in  a  state  better  fitted  to 
receive  instruction  —  more  ready  to  apprehend  the 
truth  when  presented,  and  more  easily  kept  in 
subjection  to  its  influence. 

"  The  child  is  just  as  passive  in  receiving  his 
hereditary  character  as  this  garden  —  has  no  more 
agency  in  causing  his  hereditary  state  and  natural 
disposition  to  be  what  they  are.  How  then  can  he 
be  in  the  least  degree  responsible  for  them  ?  Nei- 
ther has  he  any  more  agency  in  determining  the 
society  and  circumstances  of  his  birth  and  educa- 
tion during  infancy  and  childhood.  How  then  can 
he  be  responsible  for  the  habits  in  which  he  may 
be  brought  up,  or  for  the  doctrines  and  sentiments 
of  religious  belief  in  which  he  may  have  been 
educated  ?  For  all  these  he  is  not  responsible,  or 
in  the  least  degree  guilty,  however  depraved  and 
erroneous  they  may  be,  until  he  shall  have  been 
taught,  and  shall  have  clearly  seen  them  to  be  so. 
His  first  sin — that  for  which  he  is  himself  respon- 
sible, and  guilty  —  consists  in  freely  acting  con- 
trary to  his  own  perception  of  what  is  right  and 
true.     Consequently,  if  he  should  never  be  taught 


112       CONVERSATION     IN     THE     GARDEN. 

the  truth,  he  could  never  be  guilty  of  actual  sin. 
And  the  degree  of  his  guilt  must  always  be  rela- 
tive to  the  degree  in  which  his  mind  shall  have 
been  enlightened  in  the  truth. 

"  It  is  not  now  my  intention  to  discuss  the  time 
and  circumstances  of  the  first  act  of  sin.  It  is 
sufficient  to  know  that  it  cannot  be  till  the  child 
has  arrived  at  a  state  of  moral  accoimtahility,  and 
has  a  clear  perception  that  the  act  in  which  it 
consists  is  contrary  to  what  is  true  and  right.  And 
the  doctrine  that  the  child  is  guilty  of  any  other 
sins  than  those  of  this  character  —  or  that  the  sins 
of  his  first  j^arejits  are  in  any  way  imputed  to  him, 
so  as  to  render  him  guilty  of  them,  '  whereby  he 
is  bound  over  to  the  wrath  of  God,  and  curse  of 
the  law,'  is  destined  soon  to  be  numbered  among 
the  errors  of  past  ages,  and  to  live,  it  is  to  be 
hoped,  not  in  creeds  of  the  living ;  but  preserved 
only  as  a  monument  of  past  ages  —  a  striking  ex- 
ample of  human  weakness  and  spiritual  blind- 
ness." 

At  this  time  the  announcement  that  tea  was 
ready,  put  an  end  to  our  conversation,  and  we  were 
soon  seated  around  the  table,  where  instructive 
conversation  still  continued  to  be  happily  blended 
with  great  freedom  and  sociability. 


CHAPTER  XL 

SOCIAL    CONVERSATION    ON    SACRED   MUSIC. 

"  There  prevail  at  present  two  kinds  of  music,  as  diverse  as  their 
origin  —  profane  and  religious.  —  In  the  one,  there  is  often  something 
of  sensuality  ;  in  the  other,  of  sadness.  There  is  a  point  in  moral  im- 
provement, in  which  the  sensual  will  be  subdued,  and  the  sorrowful 
disappear  3  which  will  combine  the  pleasure  of  the  one,  with  the  sanc- 
tity of  the  other."  Sampson  Reed. 

We  have  now  followed  Mr.  Clifford  througl:  the 
day,  and  seen  how  he  so  varied  the  duties  and  em- 
ployments of  the  Sabbath,  as  to  give  development 
to  all  the  moral  and  religious  affections  without  in- 
ducing weariness  by  the  too  frequent  repetition,  or 
by  the  too  long  continuance  of  the  same  exercise. 

One  point  only  remains  to  complete  the  design 
of  this  little  volume,  viz.  to  illustrate  Mr.  Clifford's 
views  on  the  nature  of  the  social  intercourse,  and 
of  the  recreations  suitable  to  the  Sabbath.  And 
perhaps  I  cannot  do  this  in  a  better  manner  than 
to  introduce  the  reader  at  once  into  the  drawing 
room,  where,  at  an  early  hour  in  the  evening, 
several  of  his  intimate  religious  friends,  who  were 
in  the  habit  of  the  most  free  intercourse,  had 
already  assembled. 

"  Before  we  engage  in  conversation  on  the  sub- 
ject proposed  last  week,  for  this  evening,"  said  Mr. 


114  SOCIAL    CONVERSATION 

Hodgson,  one  of  his  friends,"  I  must  beg  the  favor 
of  Miss  Feroline  to  play  and  sing  in  solo  that  beauti- 
ful ode  of  Addison's  with  which  she  so  much  de- 
lighted us  all  the  last  evening  we  met  here.  I  do 
not  know  liow  it  is  ;  I  am  not  philosopher  enough  to 
occount  for  it,  but  the  music  which  1  have  some- 
times heard  here  has  a  very  peculiar  influence 
upon  my  mind  —  an  influence  not  transient  and 
momentary,  but  one  that  is  'prolonged.  Indeed, 
the  effect  appears  to  continue  and  live  as  in  the 
very  centre  of  the  soul ;  and  often,  as  if  touched  by 
an  unearthly  hand,  the  chords  of  the  heart  seem 
to  vibrate  anew,  and  at  intervals  the  same  tones 
seem  to  revive  with  even  increased  power  over  the 
mind." 

Accustomed  to  regard  music  as  little  else  than 
a  genteel  accomplishment,  of  little  importance  ex- 
cept as  a  convenient  mode  of  introducing  a  young 
lady  into  society  to  the  best  advantage,  —  embar- 
rassing, indeed,  thought  I,  must  be  the  circum- 
stances in  which  Miss  Feroline  would  now  take  her 
seat  at  the  organ,  after  expectations  awakened  by 
a  compliment  so  great,  but  still  so  perfectly  unde- 
signed. 

With  unaffected  simplicity,  however,  Feroline 
took  her  seat  at  the  organ.  I  saw,  in  the  gentle, 
subdued  expression  of  her  countenance,  a  mind 
superior  to  affectation  or  vanity.  It  was  the  ex- 
pression of  early  piety  in  a  mind  richly  cultivated, 
and  exquisitely  alive  to  the  beautiful  and  the  true 
ia  nature  and  in  art, 


ON     SACRED     MUSIC.  115 

The  ode  was  indeed  very  beautiful,  and  the 
music  to  which  it  was  set,  was  happily  suited  to 
give  the  best  effect  to  the  sentiment.  But  though 
I  had  heard  it  sung  a  hundred  times,  I  never 
before  had  the  least  idea  of  the  grandeur  of  the 
poet's  conception.  Every  idea  now  seemed  to  be 
brought  perfectly  before  the  mind,  and  every  sen- 
timent it  contained  to  be  realized,  to  be  embodied 
forth  in  the  expression.  The  voice,  style,  manner, 
every  thing,  was  lost  sight  of.  Only  the  concep- 
tions of  the  poet  were  before  her.  Nature  and 
education  had  given  her  power  to  sympathize  with 
the  poet,  —  to  take  his  conceptions,  and  to  feel  as 
he  felt.  Nothing,  therefore,  seemed  studied  or 
artificial.  Her  music  was  the  most  free  and  sim- 
ple expression  of  what  she  really  appeared  to  un- 
derstand and  feel. 

When  she  had  finished  the  ode  she  left  her  seat, 
and  immediately  something  required  her  to  be  ab- 
sent from  the  room,  but  the  performance  was  still 
before  the  mind.  Every  tone  that  gave  expres- 
sion to  its  varied  sentiment  was  still  repeated  in 
echo.  Never  did  a  painter  convey  by  colors  a 
more  perfect  expression  of  the  conceptions  of  his 
own  mind,  than  did  the  performer  by  her  tones 
and  manner  the  real  sentiment  and  conceptions  of 
the  poet. 

After  a  few  minutes  of  involuntary  silence,  oc- 
casioned by  the  influence  of  the  music,  Mrs.  Liv- 
ingston said,  "  I  can  now  well  sympathize  with  you, 
Mr.  Hodgson,  and  excuse  the  degree   of  warmth 


116  SOCIAL     CONVERSATION 

with  which  you  spoke  of  the  power  of  music,  which 
I  confess  appeared  to  me  rather  enthusiastic  at  the 
time.'' 

"  The  power  of  true  music  is  indeed  wonderful," 
said  Mr.  Clifford,  "  and  I  can  almost  believe  the 
ancient  fables  related  of  Orpheus  —  that  even  the 
stones  and  the  trees  were  so  enraptured  by  the 
tones  of  his  lyre,  as  to  be  gifted  with  the  power  of 
motion,  so  as  to  follow  him  in  order  to  listen  to  its 
strains." 

"  But  still,"  said  Mrs.  Livingston,  "  I  am  at 
loss  to  determine  in  what  such  power  of  music 
consists.  To  me  there  is  something  mysterious 
in  the  subject.  I  have  sometimes  heard  the  sweet- 
est tones  of  voice  united  to  the  highest  degree  of 
mechanical  skill  in  the  performer,  with  no  other 
than  a  very  transient  and  momentary  effect.  It 
may  have  been  pleasant  at  the  time,  but  its  influ- 
ence was  lost  as  soon  as  the  tones  died  on  the  ear." 

"  The  secret  power  of  music,"  replied  Mr.  Clif- 
ford, "  that  which  enraptures  and  takes  captive  the 
soul,  and  long  holds  it  in  willing  abeyance,  has  a 
more  inward  source  than  the  voice  and  the  most 
perfect  command  of  an  instrument.  It  must  come 
from  the  mind,  and  have  its  origin  in  the  very 
affections  of  the  soul.  It  is  nothing  else  than  the 
affections  of  the  soul  brought  forth  into  correspond- 
ing words,  tones,  and  modulations  of  the  voice  ; 
accompanied,  perhaps,  by  an  instrument  to  aid 
and  give  it  more  fulness  of  expression.  We  can- 
not but  sympathize  with  the  true  language  of  na- 


ON     SACRED     MUSIC.  117 

ture  whenever  we  hear  it.  When  real  grief  and 
sorrow  come  forth  into  sighs  and  tears,  or  joy  and 
merrinnent  into  laughter  and  sport,  we  cannot  with- 
hold our  sympathies.  We  are  insensibly  afiected 
by  the  same  passion.  But  an  artificial  represen- 
tation of  natural  passion  has  no  such  power  over 
the  mind  only  so  far  as  the  actor  does  himself  at 
the  time  really  feel  what  he  expresses.  The  art 
of  acting  on  the  stage  consists  in  the  acquired 
powers  of  the  actor  to  give  himself  up  for  the 
time,  to  an  actual  possession  of  the  passion  and 
character  he  personifies.  An  actor  may  have  the 
most  perfect  conception  of  the  character  he  is  to 
represent,  but  with  the  best  qualities  of  voice  and 
physical  powers  for  action,  unless  he  give  himself 
up  to  the  entire  possession  of  the  subject,  so  as  to 
really  enter  into  the  poet's  conceptions  and  sympa- 
thies, till  they,  for  the  time,  become  his  own,  his 
acting  will  be  powerless,  and  it  can  take  no  hold 
of  the  sympathies  of  his  audience. 

"  It  is  the  same  with  music.  Music  is  but  the 
external  expression  by  tones  of  the  sentiments  and 
emotions  of  the  soul.  The  performer,  therefore, 
can  have  real  power  over  others,  only  so  far  as  he 
does  truly  enter  into  the  sympathies  and  realize 
the  conceptions  of  the  poet  himself.  But  so  far  as 
he  does  this,  and  has  acquired  that  command  of 
his  own  powers  which  enables  him  to  bring  forth 
these  sentiments  into  a  true  corresponding  form  of 
words  and  tones  of  utterance,  there  must  be  life 
and  power  in  his  music." 


118 


SOCIAL    CONVERSATION 


It  appears  that  Mr.  Clifford  had  endeavored  to 
keep   this  principle  constantly  before  his  mind  in 
the  education  of  his  children  in  music.     He  early, 
even  from   childhood,  taught  them   to    sing   such 
juvenile  airs  as  were  adapted  to  their  state.     And 
as  they  advanced,  while  he  left  it  to  the  teacher  to 
discipline  the  voice,  and  to  impart  a  knowledge  of 
the  science  and  practice  of  music,  he  would  never 
suffer  them  to  sing  or  perform  on  an  instrument, 
without  first  endeavoring  to  give  them  a  clear  and 
strong  conception  of  the  sentiment  of  the   piece 
before  them  —  and  of  the    manner  suited  to  its 
performance.     Nor   v^as    this  all.     He   miight  do 
this  and    still   leave    them    merely   cold    affected 
imitators.     He  went  farther.     He  endeavored  not 
only  to  understand  the  conceptions  and  sentiments 
of  the   poet,  but  to  fed  them  himself.     And  then 
he  found  it  easy  to  transfuse  by  sympathy  his  own 
sentiments  into  their  minds,  and  to  awaken  in  them 
corresponding  emotions.     Thus  he  led  them  on  to 
that  perfect,  unaffected  simplicity  of  manner,  which 
resulted  from  yielding  themselves  up  to  such  an 
entire  possession  of  the  sentiment  and  conceptions 
of  the  part,  as  caused  them   to  forget  themselves^ 
while  giving  to   them  a  natural  and  perfect  ex- 
pression. 

As  we  have  already  said,  instead  of  engaging 
again  in  such  exercises  of  religious  worship  as 
were  suited  to  awaken  only  feelings  of  devotion, 
it  was  Mr.  Clifford's  usual  custom,  on  Sabbath 
evening,  to  meet  several  of  his  iniimate  religious 


ON     SACRED     MUSIC.  119 

associates  on  the  plane  of  free  social  intercourse, 
in  order  to  enjoy  the  recreation  of  sacred  and  so- 
cial music,  and  to  engage  in  conversation  on  sub- 
jects suited  to  the  occasion. 

It  so  happened  that  the  subject  of  sacred  music 
had  been  conversed  upon  at  the  preceding  meet- 
ing, and  it  devolved  on  one  of  his  friends  to  em- 
body in  the  form  of  an  essay  and  read  tliis  even- 
ing, the  substance  of  the  remarks  which  were  then 
made.     He  then  read  as  follows  : 

"  Music  is  the  natural  language  of  the  affections. 
It  is  to  the  affections  of  the  ivill^  what  the  language 
of  words  is  to  the  thoughts  of  the  understanding. 
Every  kind  and  degree  of  affection,  therefore,  has 
a  corresponding  form  of  expression  which  gives  to 
music  all  its  difference  and  variety.  This  leads 
us  to  see  at  once  the  difference  between  secular 
music  and  sacred  music.  Secular  music  is  the 
free  expression  by  sounds  and  numbers  of  the 
natural  affections  and  passions.  Sacred  music,  on 
the  other  hand,  is  the  expression  of  the  religious 
affections  and  sentiments,  of  such  affections  as  are 
not  spontaneous,  but  which  arise  in  the  mind  when 
the  natural  affections  are  under  restraint,  or  have 
been  chastened  and  subdued  by  religious  principle. 

"All  the  difference  and  variety  in  secular  music 
originate,  in  a  corresponding  difference  and  variety 
in  the  natural  affections.  The  lively  emotions  of 
joy  cannot  be  expressed  in  the  minor  tones  and 
slow  numbers  which  are  suited  to  the  affections  of 
grief  and  sorrow.  Neither  can  the  feelings  of 
8 


120  SOCIAL     CONVERSATION 

grief  and  mourning  be  uttered  in  the  quick  and 
lively  notes  adapted  to  joy  and  gladness.  The 
natural  passions  of  love  and  friendship,  of  courage 
and  patriotism,  of  joy  and  grief,  freely  flow  forth 
into  corresponding  external  forms  of  expression, 
and  give  to  secular  music  all  its  difference  and 
variety.  The  words  of  the  song,  and  the  music  to 
which  it  is  sung,  are  only  the  external  form  ex- 
pressive of  the  affection  or  sentiment  from  which 
it  originated. 

"  So  also  all  of  the  difference  and  variety  in 
sacred  music,  originate  in  a  corresponding  differ- 
ence and  variety  in  the  religious  sentiments  and 
affections.  Though  the  ruling  affection  of  the  life 
may  be  good,  yet  the  state  of  the  religious  affec- 
tions will  be  various,  and  often  changing  as  man  is 
progressing  in  spiritual  life.  Although  he  may  be 
well  established  in  his  religious  faith,  and  the  gen- 
eral current  of  his  affections  may  be  those  which 
spring  from  love  to  God,  and  charity  to  the  neigh- 
bor, yet  he  will  be  subject  to  alternations  of  state 
while  passing  through  the  different  stages  of  his 
regeneration.  Today,  the  mind  may  be  in  a  state 
of  temptation, —  in  darkness  and  in  doubt,  and 
weighed  down  with  a  sense  of  its  evils.  In  slow 
and  minor  tones  would  this  affection  flow  forth,  in 
words  like  these  : 

*  Hear  my  cry,  0  God  ; 

Attend  unto  my  prayer. 

From  the  end  of  the  earth  will  I  cry  unto  thee,  when 

my  heart  doth  faint. 
Lead  me  to  the  rock  that  is  higher  than  I.' 


ON     SACRED     MUSIC.  121 

"  Tomorrow,  the  cloud  of  darkness  may  disap- 
pear, and  light  may  shine  on  the  troubled  spirit. 
The  emotions  of  joy  and  thanksgiving  which  arise, 
will  prompt  to  livelier  and  quicker  tones,  suited  to 
corresponding  words : 

*  0  give  thanks  to  Jehovah,  for  he  is  good. 

For  his  mercy  is  for  ever. 

Let  them  exalt  him  also  in  the  congregation  of  the  people. 

And  praise  him  in  the  assembly  of  the  elders.' 

"  Again,  when  the  mind  is  made  bare  for  the 
full  impression  of  the  works  of  the  Creator,  and 
the  understanding  is  able  to  perceive  his  wisdom 
and  his  goodness  as  displayed  in  them,  the  affec- 
tions will  involuntarily  flow  forth  in  corresponding 
words,  tones,  and  numbers.  And  the  blended 
emotions  of  wonder,  delight,  gratitude  and  praise, 
will  be  manifested  in  the  tones  and  numbers  in 
which  the  words  are  uttered  —  in  the  music  of  the 
sounds,  as  well  as  in  the  thoughts  contained  in  the 
words  themselves.  Indeed,  words,  apart  from  the 
proper  tones  of  expression,  cannot  convey  to  an- 
other the  emotions  of  the  mind.  How  entirely  dif- 
ferent the  effect  produced  on  the  mind  by  merely 
reading  scientifically  that  Psalm,  beginning  with 
the  words,  'The  heavens  declare  the  glory  of  God, 
and  the  firmament  showeth  the  works  of  his  hands,' 
from  what  it  is  when  the  same  words  are  chanted 
in  a  tune  suited  to  give  them  a  just  expression,  by 
one  whose  devotional  affections  seem  to  flow  forth 
freely  into  the  language  and  the  music. 

"  The  mind  has  a  sympathetic  relation  and  com- 


122  SOCIAL     CONVERSATION 

munication  with  every  thing  which  it  is  habitually 
accustomed  to  contemplate.  And  the  affections 
and  emotions,  which  arise  in  the  mind,  are  quali- 
fied by  the  objects  which  it  contemplates,  and  in- 
finitely varied  by  them.  And  when  these  affec- 
tions and  emotions  are  truly  expressed,  they  will 
give  to  speech  a  corresponding  difference  of  man- 
ner and  tone  of  expression  ;  and  to  music,  all  its 
variety.  And  speech  and  music  become  perfect, 
only  so  far  as  they  are  fitted  to  give  free  and  full 
expression  to  the  feelings  and  emotions,  already  in 
the  mind,  and  are  adapted  to  awaken  the  same 
feelings  in  the  mind  of  another. 

"  Hence  we  see  the  impropriety  of  uttering,  or 
of  singing  language  expressive  of  different  affec- 
tions and  emotions  in  the  same  tone  of  voice,  or  in 
the  same  tune  of  music.  The  tone  and  manner  of 
speech,  and  the  style  of  the  music  should  ever 
vary  and  correspond  to  the  affections  which  inspire 
the  language. 

"  Sacred  music,  it  has  been  said,  is  the  just  and 
true  external  expression  of  the  religious  sentiments 
and  affections.  The  Psalms,  in  particular,  and 
many  other  parts  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  are  the 
yoetry  oi  those  sentiments  and  affections — lan- 
guage descriptive  of  them,  and  inspired  by  them  ; 
and  which  can  be  fully  and  rightly  understood  and 
appreciated  only  when  under  their  influence. 

"  Without  some  degree  of  the  same  feelings  and 
sentiments  they  cannot  be  correctly  read  or  sung. 
They  are  language  descriptive  of  all  the  varied 
religious  affections  of  which  man  can  be  the  sub. 


ON     SACRED     MUSIC.  123 

ject  —  whether  they  be  those  of  spiritual  joy  or 
grief — temptation  or  victory  —  seasons  of  fasting 
and  sorrow,  or  of  thanksgiving  and  rejoicing  — 
whether  they  arise  from  the  contemplations  of  the 
wisdom  and  the  goodness  of  the  Lord  in  the  ivorks 
of  creation,  or  whether  they  spring  out  of  the  won- 
ders of  his  redeeming  love.  And  we  cannot  rightly 
understand  the  language,  and  fully  express  it  either 
by  speech  or  by  singing,  only  as  we  ourselves  be- 
come the  subjects  of  such  sentiments  and  emotions. 
To  a  man  in  a  perfectly  natural  state  of  mind  the 
language  of  the  Scriptures  appears  to  have  no  such 
meaning.  And  it  would  be  absolutely  impossible 
for  him  to  read  or  to  chant  them  (except  from  imi- 
tation) so  as  to  give  any  correct  idea  of  the  senti- 
ments which  they  are  given  to  express.  He  can- 
not learn  to  speak  the  language  of  Canaan  while 
he  remains  in  Egypt ;  nor  to  chant  the  songs  of 
Zion  '  while  in  a  strange  land.'  But  as  he  is  en- 
deavoring to  keep  the  commandments,  and  as  he 
is  actually  advancing  in  the  regenerate  life,  he  will 
find  that  his  own  experience  becomes  his  inter- 
preter of  the  language.  As  he  studies  and  reads 
the  Scriptures,  he  will  find  his  own  feelings,  senti- 
ments and  emotions,  there  portrayed  and  described. 
He  learns  by  experience  that  he  is  himself  becom- 
ing the  subject  of  all  these  various  feeling  and  emo- 
tions. And  when  he  reads  those  parts  which  are 
descriptive  of  the  exercises  of  his  own  mind,  his 
affections  will  flow  forth  into  them,  and  fill  the 
language  in  such  a  manner,  as  to  convey  to  an- 
other something  of  its  true  meaning.     The  words 


124  SOCIAL     CONVERSATION 

then  read  will  become  filled  with  the  spirit  and  the 
life  of  his  own  mind. 

"  So  also  it  is  with  singing  or  chanting  the  lan- 
guage of  the  Scriptures.  It  cannot  truly  be  sung, 
and  be  filled  with  its  spirit  and  life,  only  so  far  as 
man  is  prepared  to  sing  with  the  spirit  as  well  as 
with  the  understanding  —  only  so  far  as  by  expe- 
rience the  affections  are  in  harmony  with  the 
words.  And  when  we  see  our  own  sentiments  and 
feelings  portrayed  in  the  words  which  we  use,  they 
will  almost  involuntarily  flow  forth  into  them  ;  and 
when  this  is  done,  in  corresponding  tones  and  num- 
bers, then  are  the  songs  of  Zion  no  longer  sung  '  in 
a  strange  land.' " 

"  The  sentiments  advanced  in  the  fssa?/,"  said 
Mr.  Clifford,  "  appear  to  be  in  the  main  correct. 
It  seems,  however,  that  there  is  a  point  in  moral 
improvement,  in  which  both  secular  and  sacred 
music  will  be  so  much  changed  from  their  present 
state,  as  to  blend  and  unite,  in  which  the  tones  of 
the  one  will  be  in  unison  and  harmonize  with 
those  of  the  other.  But  this  will  not  be,  till  truth 
shall  have  gained  the  victory,  and  religion  have 
completed  her  triumphs  ;  till  all  that  is  sensual  in 
our  natural  passions  shall  have  been  subdued,  and 
sentiments  of  purity  and  innocence,  shall  descend 
into  the  natural  degree  and  social  pleasures  of  life, 
from  the  union  of  goodness  and  truth  in  the  spiritual 
mind. 

"  The  wide  difference  which  now  exists  between 
sacred  and  secular  music,  results  from  the  disor- 
dered and  ascetic  state   of  the  church,  from  sepa- 


ON      SACRED     MUSIC.  125 

rating  religion  from  social  life.  In  the  existing 
state  of  both  kinds  of  music,  there  does  indeed  ap- 
pear to  be  the  same  profanation  in  attempting  to 
unite  and  blend  them  on  the  same  occasion,  that 
there  is  in  mixing  things  sacred  and  profane.  But 
as  the  church  shall  advance,  and  its  regenerating 
influences  descend,  may  we  not  expect  a  corre- 
sponding change  to  take  place  in  the  character  of 
our  music  and  all  our  social  recreations,  as  well 
as  in  the  moral  sentiments  and  social  affections, 
to  which  they  should  be  adapted. 

"  Religion  should  indeed  chasten  and  purify  all 
natural  sympathies  and  social  affections  —  not  an- 
nihilate and  destroy  them.  It  should  have  the 
same  regenerating  influence  on  all  our  social 
amusements  and  recreations,  in  order  to  adapt 
them  to  our  state.  And  though  they  will  never  be 
the  same,  yet  sacred  and  secular  music  will  ap- 
proximate so  as  to  unite  in  harmony,  just  as  man 
advances  in  the  regeneration  and  the  spiritual  acts 
in  agreement  with  the  natural  man. 

"  And  surely  when  social  intercourse  shall  arise 
out  of  such  a  plane  in  the  church,  religion  will  not 
be  required  to  appear  clothed  only  in  the  dark 
garments  of  mourning,  nor  will  the  sentiments  of 
sacred  praise  be  expressed  only  in  tones  of  sad- 
ness and  sorrow.  But  cheerfulness  will  unite  and 
join  hands  with  devotion,  free  social  intercourse 
will  blend  with  Christian  fellowship,  and  social 
pleasures  and  recreations  will  form  an  intimate  al- 
liance with  mental  improvement  and  religious  ac- 
knowledgment.    Indeed,  religion  will  not  have  ac- 


126  ON     SACRED     MUSIC. 

complished  her  work,  until  our  natural  sympathies 
and  social  affections  shall  have  become  so  far  pu- 
rified from  all  that  is  gross  and  sensual,  that  they 
can  freely  flow  out  into  corresponding  expressions 
of  joy  and  delight,  and  we  shall  have  attained  that 
degree  of  moral  innocence  and  purity,  in  which  a 
sense  of  the  divine  presence  will  impose  no  re- 
straint upon  the  free  expression  of  our  social 
pleasures  and  delights." 

Several  pieces  of  music  were  then  selected,  and 
sung.  They  were  admirably  adapted  to  awaken 
and  call  in  exercise,  as  well  as  to  give  expression 
to  such  sentiments  as  were  in  accordance  with 
these  remarks,  and  which  this  social  meeting  seem- 
ed well  suited  to  cherish  and  improve.  At  an  early 
hour  they  separated,  and  I  was  soon  left  alone  to 
my  own  reflections. 

I  shall  now  attempt  no  elaborate  description  of 
the  influence  this  visit  had  on  my  mind.  Suffice 
it  simply  to  remark,  that  it  has  not  been  without 
its  use.  The  Sabbath  ever  since  has  appeared  in 
a  new  light.  The  remarks  of  Mr.  Clifford  on  the 
different  subjects  discussed,  though  not  in  accord- 
ance with  the  views  in  which  I  had  been  educated, 
or  my  former  habits,  were  often  reviewed  and  at- 
tentively considered.  And  I  shall  be  happy  to  learn, 
that  this  little  volume  may  have  had  a  similar  influ- 
ence in  aiding  the  reader  to  understand  more 
clearly  the  signification  of  the  Sabbath,  or  in  as- 
sisting him  to  come  into  a  more  enlightened  and 
orderly  mode  of  observing  it. 

THE    END. 


DATE  DUE 

-U-*-- 

p— «- 

DEMCO  38-297 

